1,2, Death is Coming 4 U
by xtr75
Summary: Terror is unleashed on Summer Bay when the charred remains of a cop are found. Sent to investigate, Watson and Holmes soon find themselves dealing with another murder. As the body count rises, a long buried secret threatens to be exposed and in her search for justice, Watson may end up the next victim of a killer seeking their own brand of justice. JUSTICE or RETRIBUTION?
1. Chapter 1

_Just a short intro to my new story.  
_

* * *

Staggering on unsteady legs a short distance from the horrific scene he'd discovered, he falls to his hands and knees, his stomach churning as he heaves up his breakfast of bacon and eggs. Once the heaving finally stops, he wipes his mouth and sits up, resting his hands on his knees as he tries and fails to compose himself. He had never seen anything so horrifying and the image was likely to be seared into his mind forever.

A shudder racks his body; he felt as if he was freezing in the warmth of the early morning sun. He dares a glance over his shoulder, a small sob escaping his lips as he desperately hoped that he was wrong about whose car it was that he had just stumbled upon.

Fighting tears, his trembling hand reaches into his pocket for his phone. Closing his eyes, he takes a few deep breaths before dialling.

"Yabbie Creek Police Station, Constable Rosetta speaking, how may I help you?"

He didn't really like Angelo, but after what he'd just seen, Angelo's voice sounded absolutely wonderful. "Ah," he swallows hard. "I'd like to report a body."

* * *

"It's about time you got here," Senior Constable Jack Holden snaps, not even bothering to disguise the anger in his voice at the two approaching women. "This could be our friend and we've had to leave her here while we waited until you Dee's finally graced us with your presence."

"We got here as quickly as we could," the raven-haired woman replied evenly. The moment the call had come in, they'd quickly gathered their things and driven well over the speed limit to Summer Bay, but the trip had still taken a couple of hours. "I'm Detective Sergeant Susan Holmes and this is Det. Constable Georgie Watson."

"Holmes and Watson, is that a joke?"

"Do I look like I'm a person who jokes?"

Jack couldn't read the detective at all. "Well anyway, I already know Watson."

"Ah, that's right, she has family here."

"Hey Jack," the young Detective greets him with some trepidation. Her father and his father may have been born and bred here but she hadn't been and so she wasn't considered a local, which was why she hadn't been sure how her presence was going to be welcomed here and going by Jack's brusqueness, she was likely to fair as well as Holmes; an outsider and worse, a detective stepping over their territory.

"Watson," he acknowledges her with a small nod before turning his attention back to Holmes. "Now that you're here, do you think you can do your job?"

"Then why don't you start by telling us what we have here," suggests Holmes, her tone showing no hint of annoyance at his attitude. Under the circumstances, she more than understood his frustration at the delays and his anger at the situation.

"The body," his voice caught on the word. He took a deep breath and started again. "The body was found at 8 am by a local teen."

"Name of the teen?"

"Casey Braxton." He points over to a young man wrapped in a blanket and sitting on a fallen log with his head in his hands. "He reported it immediately, we came and sealed off the area and then twiddled our thumbs while we waited for you."

"I can appreciate that this is a difficult situation, Senior, but I'm sure you can understand the necessity for outside officers to take charge if this is indeed the body of Sgt. Charlotte Buckton."


	2. Chapter 2

"Charlie," snaps Jack. "Her name is Charlie."

"Senior, you need to keep this professional," Holmes tells him in a level voice. "I know it's not easy, but you won't be much help if you can't think straight."

Jack nods, reluctantly acknowledging she was right.

"Now, why do you think this is Sgt. Buckton?"

Jack takes a moment to get his thoughts together, before speaking. "It's Charlie's car, the victim is a woman, we haven't been able to contact Charlie and no other woman has been reported as missing in the area." He shrugs, "You do the maths."

She could certainly understand why they believed it was the Sergeant, Holmes thought as she walks toward the burnt out wreck of the car, Watson hot on her heels.

"Shit," Watson mutters as they see the victim for the first time. "Definitely not suicide or an accident," she thought to herself. The victim had been handcuffed to the steering wheel and the heat of the flames had been so intense, the wrists were now melded to the cuffs. The condition of the victim was making Watson feel a bit nauseous. Seeing the dead for the first time was never a pleasant experience and it was a part of her job that she never got used to, especially when there were clear signs that the victim had suffered and this poor soul had most definitely suffered. The scream of agony etched on the charred remains told them and no doubt all the officers there, that the victim, who could very well be their colleague and friend, had been alive when the fire had started to consume her. At least she thought it was a her, it was hard to tell from the state of the body.

Holmes seemed to echo her thoughts when she asked Jack if the Medical Examiner had examined the body and was sure the victim was female.

"Sid, sorry, Dr Walker was here not long after the call came in; he identified the victim as female, then went back to the hospital to get things ready for the autopsy." Again, his tone telling them he wasn't happy about the long wait.

"Forensics?" Holmes asks. She doubted very much that they had just twiddled their thumbs while waiting for them to arrive as he'd said.

"We gathered what we could without disturbing the body, crime scene photos have been taken and evidence is still being gathered. We still have to examine the car more thoroughly once the body," he detested that word now more than he ever had. "Has been removed. We've also found a couple of shoe prints near the car that don't match the victims."

"Excellent work Senior." Holmes does a slow survey of the crime scene, taking note of every little detail she could. "The place looks fairly secluded and there's enough bushland to have hidden the fire from view." She turns to Jack. "When was Sgt Buckton last seen?"

"Last night, when she left the station as soon as her shift finished at 7 pm. We're still trying to track her movements from when she left work, to when this happened. Sid should be able to give us a better indication of a time of death once he completes the autopsy."

"So, it was dark, which would have helped mask the smoke."

"The killer put the fire out," Watson says suddenly.

"It could have just burnt itself out," Holmes reasons.

Watson shakes her head. "The fire would have ignited the petrol and caused an explosion before it even came close to burning itself out and look around," she waves her hand around them. "This place is so dry it's like a tinder box ready to go up with even a small spark, yet there's only a bit of scorching on the ground by the car and while there's fire damage to the rest of the interior of the car, the intensity of the fire was to the driver's side and the victim itself, which seems our most likely point of ignition. This was a controlled fire that was extinguished before it could do more damage," concludes Watson.

"That's right," Jack agrees. "We didn't find a fire extinguisher, but one, possibly two, was definitely used to put the fire out."

"Which means our killer watched while she burned," mutters Watson. As a cop, she had seen some terrible things before, but she shuddered at the thought of someone being so cold and callous as to have been able to stand there and watch while another human being burned to death.

Holmes glances over at Casey. "What was our witness doing here?" she asks.

"Taking a short cut. I know the place seems secluded, but it's actually quite a well used short cut, especially during the day."

"So, our killer used the cover of darkness to commit the crime and chose a place that offered seclusion at the same time knowing the body would most likely be found in a reasonable time," Watson says, thinking it more than likely that it was someone with local knowledge. She hoped she was wrong, but experience told her the killer was usually someone known to the victim and something about this felt like it was personal.

Holmes walks around the car again before turning to Jack. "Ok Senior, you can remove the body now and we'll go and talk to the witness."

"Go easy on him," Jack tells her. "The poor kid is still in shock and we've kept him here without even calling his brother." He glances over at Casey. "You should also know that he's known Charlie his whole life and she was engaged to his brother until earlier this year, so he was very close to her."

Holmes seizes onto his words. "I take it that they're no longer engaged?"

"Charlie ended the engagement."

"Reason?"


	3. Chapter 3

Jack shifted on his feet, uncomfortable with the direction this was going. Charlie and Brax were his friends and he hadn't taken sides in their breakup, except to tell Brax he'd been a jerk.

"Senior?" Holmes prods him. "You might as well tell me, because if I don't hear it from you, I'll just ask someone else."

"Charlie went to surprise Brax at the restaurant."

"That can't be his name, can it?" Holmes says.

"Darryl Braxton," Watson informs her.

"Ok, so the Sergeant went to surprise him and?"

"And she walked in on him having sex on one of the tables with her best friend, Leah Poulos," Jack finishes.

"Oh shit," Watson murmurs.

"Nice best friend," Holmes says sarcastically. "As soon as the body is formally identified, I'll need to speak to both Mr Braxton and Miss Poulos." She glances over at Casey. "Has he said anything?"

"Only that he was taking a short cut, found the body and didn't see anyone hanging around," Jack replies.

Looking at Casey's slumped shoulders, Watson felt sorry for the boy. No one should ever have to see something as horrifying as what he had. "Do we really need to speak to him just now?" she asks Holmes in a quiet voice.

"I guess not," answers Holmes. "Take his statement, have him sign it and if we need to, we will speak to him at another time," she tells Jack.

Jack nods, relieved that they wouldn't be pushing Casey too hard. The poor kid was barely holding it together as it was.

"And if he thinks of anything that he hasn't already told us once he's calmed down, he needs to tell us immediately."

"Believe me Detective, if Casey remembers anything that will help catch the bastard who did this, he'll be straight on the phone to us."

"I don't want him talking to anyone else about this, especially the press."

"I'll make sure he knows that he needs to keep his mouth shut about this, unless it's to tell us something. Now, what about Joey, she doesn't even know about this yet."

"Who's Joey?"

"Charlie's girlfriend."

"Girlfriend," Holmes says in surprise. "So the Sergeant is Bi?"

"Yes, not that I see how her being Bi has anything to do with this."

"I'm just trying to get a feel for who she is, because I find it helps to do that in investigations. How long has the Sergeant been with her girlfriend?"

"Joey was actually her first girlfriend back in high school and they ended up getting back together not long after Charlie broke off her engagement to Brax."

"How romantic, rekindling a past love."

Jack scowls at her sarcastic reply. "I guess you'll want to speak to Joey as well."

"Of course. Do you know of any problems in their relationship?"

"Not this time, no."

"This time?" Jack curses himself for his carelessness with his words. "I take it there have been problems in the past between them?"

"I can see where you're going with this."

"Just answer the question."

"They were just girls in high school, it's hardly relevant now."

"I'll decide what is relevant," Holmes' tone almost harsh. "Now, what happened?"

"Joey accused Charlie of sleeping with my cousin, Hugo Austin."

"So, this Joey is the jealous type?"

"I don't know anyone who would like being cheated on, do you?"

"Not really, no," admits Holmes.

"Anyway, nothing actually happened between Charlie and Hugo, but by the time the truth came out, the damage to their relationship had already been done."

"Why did Joey believe her girlfriend was cheating on her in the first place?" Jack looks uncomfortable again. "Senior?"

"Charlie had a bit of a rep in school."

"What sort of rep?"

"She got around."

"Did she get around with you?"

Jack breaks eye contact. "I've been with my wife since we were 15, but we broke up a couple of times when we were in school and during one of those breaks, I slept with Charlie."

"Was she with Joey at the time?"

"No, they were both single then."

"Ok, so back to your cousin. Was it just a simple misunderstanding or jealousy that led Joey to believe your cousin slept with her promiscuous girlfriend?"

Jack winced at her use of promiscuous. "Not exactly a misunderstanding. Hugo went around bragging to his friends that he'd slept with Charlie, but he was just trying to make his own girlfriend jealous because she wouldn't sleep with him."

"Sounds like a stand up guy."

"He was a teenage boy with raging hormones. Anyway, Joey got wind of it and accused Charlie of cheating on her, which she denied but by the time Hugo finally fessed up to his lie, too much had been said between Joey and Charlie and they ended their relationship. It all happened a couple of weeks before we graduated, then two days after graduation, Joey was gone."

"And now she's back in town and back with Buckton. Any rumours that Buckton hasn't been faithful?"

"Charlie was devastated when they split and Joey left town, so there is no way Charlie would ever cheat on Joey or even get into a situation where a rumour could spring up at the merest hint of her cheating."

"So that would be a no then."

"A big no."

"You said they got together not long after Buckton ended her engagement, but did Joey come back to town before or after the engagement was over?"

"Before."

"Any hint of impropriety going on between the two while she was still engaged to Braxton?"

"None whatsoever," Jack replies confidently. "Look, I know you have to talk to Joey, Brax and Leah, but you're barking up the wrong tree if you think any of them or anyone else who has cared for Charlie, could do this to her."

"You'd be surprised what some people are capable of."

"I'm a cop, very little surprises me."

Both detectives had to agree with that. In their line of work, they were witness to some of the worst examples of what a human was capable of doing to another person and their current investigation was further evidence of that.

"We'll be at the hospital, where, hopefully, it won't take long for the body to be identified and then we can speak to this charming trio of people, starting with the girlfriend, I'm sorry, what was her full name?" asks Holmes.

"Joey Collins. She's a nurse at the hospital. She has the day off today and someone really should go around and tell her about Charlie before she hears it on the grapevine."

"We haven't got official confirmation that the body is that of Sgt Buckton yet."

"She should still be told of the possibility that it is Charlie," argues Jack. "And for all we know, she could tell us that Charlie is visiting friends and lost her phone and that's why we can't contact her." The last part he didn't really believe because in his mind, his friend was dead, but he needed to convince the detective to send him to inform Joey. He and Joey may not be the best of friends, but she was Charlie's girlfriend and she deserved to hear this from someone she knew instead of from a Detective who would treat her like a suspect.

"Considering you haven't been able to contact the Sergeant, why haven't you already checked with her girlfriend about her possible whereabouts until now?"

"I didn't want to get into this with Joey over the phone and I had no one to spare to send to her place." He shrugs, "Besides, once I was told you were on your way, I had to wait for your say so."

Holmes nods. "Ok, after you take Casey's statement, why don't you go see Miss Collins and while you're there, I want you to study her reaction to the news about her girlfriend's possible death, but don't let her know she is a suspect just yet."

"If you want me to study the reactions of an innocent woman learning her girlfriend might be dead, then fine, I'll study her, but I'm telling you now, there is no way in hell Joey had anything to do with this."

"A good friend of yours, is she, for you to be defending her so stoically?"

"What? No, well, sort of," Jack stammers. "I mean, she's more of a friend by association."

"Through the Sergeant, you mean?"

"Yeah. We're not that close, but I know Joey well enough to know she's not capable of this."

"Just remember where your duties and loyalties lay, Senior."

Jack bit down his reply and nodded. He hated being told what to do like this, but the Detective was only doing her job and reminding him to keep it professional, which he admitted, wasn't an easy thing to do. He wanted the bastard who did this to his friend and if he had his way, the bastard would meet with an unfortunate accident.

Holmes hands Jack a card. "That has both our numbers on it. Contact us immediately if Miss Collins has anything to say."

"Fine."

"Detectives, we've found something!" a Constable shouts just as Holmes and Watson were about to turn and leave.


	4. Chapter 4

At her partner's sharp intake of breath, Holmes studies the Constable rushing toward them. She guessed that this was Angelo Rosetta, Watson's ex and the man who didn't take finding out his ex had hooked up with a woman very kindly.

"We found this on the floor in between the gear box and the passenger seat," Angelo says, his voice slightly shaky after watching the body of his friend being removed. Despite the evidence to the contrary, he still didn't want to believe that she was dead. "It looks like it missed the worst of the flames, but the edges have still been melted some from the heat."

Holmes takes the evidence bag from him. Even with the heat damage, it was clear what the item inside the bag was. "Any idea who this belongs to?"

Jack hesitates before nodding. "It looks like Joey's."

"Are you as certain she's not involved, now?"

"There could be any number of reasons for that to be in Charlie's car, they were dating after all."

Watson takes the bag next. "Looks like it might have come off in a struggle and," she squints and looks more closely at it, "There might be blood on it."

Holmes retrieves the bag again. "You're right. We'll need forensics to take a look and see if they can get DNA from it."

Jack stayed silent. He really didn't want to believe Joey was involved, but things weren't looking good for her right now with this new piece of evidence.

"Those shoe prints you found, any chance they are the same size as Miss Collins feet?" Holmes asks Jack.

"I wouldn't have a clue what size shoe Joey wears."

"Come now Senior, you're an experienced police officer, surely you can make an estimate based on her height."

"I can't say with any certainty," he says after a moment of thought. "But Joey's feet could be a match."

"Well, when you go to talk to Miss Collins, why don't you take a closer look at her shoes and then bring her to the station. I know we still don't have official confirmation that it is Sgt Buckton, but I'd like to have a little chat with Miss Collins myself and as the Sergeant is missing, it won't seem so strange to bring her girlfriend to the station to help with our enquiries as to her whereabouts."

"You've already decided that Charlie is dead and Joey is guilty, haven't you!" Jack accuses her.

"Loved one's are often the first suspects, Senior and as much as you don't want this to be your friend's body, the chances are high that it is her."

"You think I don't know that!" He had held a brief hope that his friend might have been found alive and safe somewhere, only now he believed that she was indeed, dead, but he resented the assumptions the detective was making. "Would there be anything wrong with hoping that a friend wasn't dead, though?"

"Of course not, but it's also why Watson and I are here to take charge, because while you're being affected by your feelings, we'll be getting the investigation moving forward by going over the evidence and forming a plan of attack against potential suspects and you can't deny, that Miss Collins is looking very good as our main suspect."

Jack wanted to, but what she said made sense and right now, she was in a better position to be making these sorts of decisions.

He had noticed the way Holmes had been studying him, so now Angelo studied her while she spoke to Jack. He had never met the lead detective but he knew all about her; Det. Sgt. Susannah 'Susan' Holmes, rising star, youngest ever to be assigned to Homicide and she had a reputation for always getting the bad guys, no matter how long it took. His eyes drift to Watson. He'd known her for years and when they'd ended up at the Academy at the same time, it just seemed natural to gravitate toward each other when they knew no one else and it ended up leading to more than just friendship. He hadn't seen her for some time, not even when she was in town visiting her father and he hadn't really spoken to her since their academy days when he'd acted like a jerk when he found out she was in a relationship with a woman. He did feel bad with the way he reacted to her coming out, especially as he had no right to feel slighted; they'd been over for a month and he was with Nicole at the time, but it had dented his ego to find out she preferred pussy to his dick. He winced. Even now, that sounded as crass to him as it did back then. "Georgie," Angelo greets her finally.

"Angelo."

Holmes rolled her eyes at the awkwardness between them. She knew her partner would keep things professional, but she hoped Rosetta still didn't harbour any resentment toward Watson because they were going to have a hard enough time with these officers by taking over their turf. "As touching as this reunion is, it really is time Watson and I went to the hospital. I'll leave finishing up here and dealing with Miss Collins in your capable hands," she says to Jack, who nodded tiredly at her. "Oh, before we leave. Senior, how do you think the killer got away from here?"

"It's not that far to town from here, that's why people use it as a short cut, so they could easily have walked from here or they had their own car."

Holmes surveys the ground around the crime scene. There were too many tire tracks to be able to determine if one belonged to their killer. Holmes nods to Jack and leaving the other officers to their duties, Holmes and Watson head back to their car.

"What do you think Watson, the killer came here in the victim's car or they met here?"

"It's hard to know. There's evidence to suggest someone else was in the car, but proving when they were in the car could be difficult."

"True. You think the killer is a local?" Holmes asks

"It could just be chance they chose that short cut, but they got in and out without being seen and went prepared for the fire, so I'm thinking it was someone who knew enough of the area to be able to do it without being caught."

"Have you used that short cut before?"

"Nah. Dad's place is on the other side of town and I never really had a reason to come here."

Holmes glances back over her shoulder. "How well do you know these people?"

"Some better than others. When I stayed with my dad, I spent most my time with him or next door with Angelo and as he's best friends with Jack, I know Jack quite well, as well as his wife, Martha. The other officers I don't know."

"And those who knew the victim, the ones Jack mentioned?"

"Brax and Leah, I really don't know past casual chit chat when I've eaten at their places."

"While we're here, remind me to never order from that restaurant."

"You might want to avoid the Diner too."

"Why?"

"Leah owns it and if one table," she shrugs, leaving it unsaid.

"That is disgusting." Holmes shudders at the thought of food being served on those tables.

Watson chuckles softly. "Don't think too much about it or you'd probably never eat out if you knew half of what went on, especially in the kitchens."

"You're right, I don't want to think about it."

"Like I said, I really don't know Brax and Leah that well, but everyone in the area knows about Brax though, the ex-gang leader made good," Watson says, returning to the original question.

"Hang on, he was part of a gang and the Sergeant didn't think that was a problem when she got involved with him?"

"He quit the gang as a teen and turned his life around."

"Yeah, I've heard that before," murmurs Holmes. "Perhaps we should take a closer look at Mr Braxton. What about Collins?"

Watson didn't know Joey personally, but she'd seen her around when she visited her father and if she was honest with herself, before Joey left, she'd had a bit of a crush on her, though back then she hadn't recognised it as a crush as it was only later that she realised she was gay. "Well, she was gone for quite a few years, but I saw her around town when she did live here, not so much since she came back though and I don't think we have ever actually spoken to each other."

"And our victim?"

"I had a few run-ins with her."

"Run-ins?"

"When we were teens, Charlie was part of the It crowd and she loved being the centre of attention, at least that's how I always saw her and after being on the receiving end of a few nasty taunts from her, I tended to steer clear of her."

"So she was promiscuous and a bully as a teen, but what about as an adult?"

"I never saw much of her as an adult, which was fine by me." She felt bad for Charlie, especially about the way she died, as no one should ever have to suffer such pain, but she wasn't going to pretend that she liked the woman.

"Still avoiding her?"

"Not deliberately, but I had little interest in speaking to her, so I didn't go out of my way to walk up to her for a chat."

"And Rosetta, are you going to be ok dealing with him?"

"I'm fine but I can't speak for him." Holmes nods. "Susan, are you sure I'm the right partner for this?"

"You wouldn't be here if I didn't think you were. I've always found cases in small towns amongst the hardest to investigate, because everyone knows everyone and there's a tendency to keep silent and to mistrust outsiders, which was part of the reason why I brought you onto this case; you have ties here and if they're going to trust anyone, it will be you."

"I don't know about that," she mutters, thinking of Jack's earlier brusqueness.

"Your father's well respected and trusted, isn't he?"

"I don't know about that," Watson replies again with a wry smile. "Being the Mayor and all, I'm not sure that comes with respect and trust."

Holmes snorts softly. "Politicians, respect and trust don't seem to go together, do they?"

"Seriously though, while dad does have a good standing here, I'm still pretty much a stranger to most people. I've never lived here and only really spent part of the school holidays and odd weekend here as a teen and once I started working, my visits have gotten even more sparse."

"But you're a face that's a lot more familiar than mine, so if they're going to trust anyone, I'm guessing it won't be me and you do have a pipeline to these people through your father."

"It doesn't bother you that I know some of these people though?"

"Aside from your father and your ex, you're not really close enough to any of them to have your perspective about the case blurred, so I trust you to be able to do your job without being influenced by the past or by others and with the local knowledge you do have about these people and the town, I think that makes you a valuable asset to this investigation."

Watson still wasn't so sure about them trusting her anymore than Holmes. While the people here were nice, if you weren't born here, then it did make it hard to fit in and she was never here long enough to really try all that hard to fit in.

"I assume you know where the hospital is?" Holmes says, drawing Watson from her thoughts as they reach the car.

"Yeah, it's on the other side of town, not far from dad's place."

Holmes tosses the keys to her. "You might as well drive while we're here, seeing as you know your way around."

Pausing before she gets into the car, Watson looks back at the scene. Every cop was standing there, staring at them. Feeling as if she was being judged, Watson swallowed hard. Ties here or not, right now, she was definitely feeling on the outside with these officers. Nodding politely to them, she climbs into the car.


	5. Chapter 5

_"The charred remains of an unidentified body were discovered by a local teen early this morning. Two homicide detectives have arrived to take charge of the investigation and as of yet, the police have refused to make a statement about who they suspect the victim of this most heinous act is. I will keep you updated on any new developments and let us all hope that the police are quick to bring this killer to justice. Our thoughts go out to the victim's family. This is Belle Taylor, your voice of the Bay."_

"Shit," Holmes mutters as she turns off the car radio just as they pull up outside the hospital. "They don't waste their time, do they?"

"At least no names were mentioned," Watson points out.

"It'll only be a matter of time before that happens though."

"It always does and around here, word will spread like wildfire once it's out."

"If this is Buckton, it's going to be hard enough to do our job with her colleagues watching our every move, but once the public finds out that a cop has been murdered, we're going to have everyone on our backs, including our bosses, demanding we catch the guy A.S.A.P.," she complains. "It will be like we're expected to just snap our fingers and there he or she is, whether we have a suspect or not."

Detecting something in her tone, Watson looks over at her partner. "You ok?"

"Yeah, it's just that there are some parts of the job I hate at times; public perception of how we do our job is one of them, especially during a high-profile case and we're about to do another one of them when we walk into that autopsy room."

Watson had to agree with her. They could be the best cops in the world and catch the bad guys in moments, but there would always be some who thought they weren't doing their job and as for the second part, she really hated autopsies. It wasn't just that a person's life had come to an end and their bodies were left to be cut up and examined on a table, it was the smell of the place and a lot of Medical Examiners she'd met had odd senses of humour that only added to her unease during autopsies. She supposed that when you were surrounded by death, humour was a way to deal with it. Some cops were the same. She'd heard some jokes told in rather poor taste at crime scenes, but each of them had their own way of dealing with the horrors of their job and for some, it was with humour. Right now, she could do with something to distract her from what she was about to witness.

"You don't have to go in there Georgie," Holmes said in a gentle voice. It was one of the rare times that she addressed Watson by her first name.

"I've already seen the state of the body, so it's not like I will be seeing something I haven't already seen." The words were more to convince herself than her colleague.

"We both know that autopsy rooms are different."

"Let's just get this over with," Watson said, her tone leaving no room for any further discussion.

Holmes nods. "I hope this doctor has some answers for us."

* * *

Watson couldn't quite keep out the chill that she had felt the moment they stepped into the room where the autopsy was to be conducted. It didn't help that the room felt so impersonal and sterile with a feeling of death surrounding them and that the reason for them being here was displayed on a stainless steel table like a charred slab of meat. That imagery, along with the scent of smoke mixed in amongst the hospital smells, almost had her rushing to the nearby basin and throwing up.

"You really don't have to be in here, Watson," Holmes reminds her.

"I'm fine," she replies, swallowing hard and averting her gaze as the door opened and Sid Walker strode in.

"Detectives," he greeted them with a curt nod. "As soon as I returned to the hospital, I pulled Charlie's dental records so I could compare them to our victim the moment the body arrived."

"And?" Holmes asks without a hint of the impatience she had been feeling ever since they had arrived at the hospital.

Despite the lump he felt in his throat, Sid managed to keep his voice even. "The dental records confirm that the body is that of Sgt Charlotte Buckton."

"Damn," Watson muttered softly. It didn't matter that she wasn't all that fond of the woman, she was still a human being who had died a horrible death and every cop felt it when one of their own was killed.

"Is there any sign that our victim struggled?" asks Holmes.

"Please Detective," Sid said a bit tersely. "At least give me a chance to start the autopsy before hounding me with questions."

"I'm sorry Doctor, I guess I'm just keen to get the monster who did this to her."

Sid nods in understanding. They all wanted this monster off the streets and behind bars.

"Did you know Sgt. Buckton?"

Sid's hand shook as he picked up the scalpel. "It's a small town Detective, everyone knows everyone, I even know your colleague a little." He smiles briefly at Watson. "I only wish we were seeing each other again under very different circumstances, Watson."

"Same here, Dr Walker." The colour drained from her face as Sid made the first incision.

Time seemed to stand still as Sid conducted the autopsy, providing a detached, but detailed description as he went. The few times Watson had met Sid, she had found him to be a very personable man, so to hear him sound so detached while he spoke was quite a shock. She had no idea if this was how he was whenever he fulfilled his role as ME or if it was because the victim was someone he knew quite well.

"Due to the fire and extent of damage it did to the body, time of death is difficult to determine," Sid continues on in the same detached manor.

"Well we know it must have been some time after she left the station at 7 pm to when she was found at 8 am. We're still looking into tracking her movements to try to narrow it down."

"Like I said, TOD is difficult to determine, but with that timeframe in mind, then going by the lack of heat in the body and at the scene when I was there earlier, then I would place her death some time before 4 am. I can't narrow it down any further than that."

"Thanks Doctor. Was she alive when she started to burn?"

Sid gives Holmes a look that told her not to ask the obvious. "Detective, just look at her," he said, pointing to the expression on the charred remains. "You don't need a doctor to confirm that she was alive at the time."

"I need verbal confirmation for the record."

"The victim was alive and most likely conscious when the fire started to consume her," he confirmed for her. "There's fire damage to her throat and lungs, suggesting she breathed in the flames."

Watson covered her mouth. She couldn't wait to get out of here.

"As to your earlier question as to whether there are signs of a struggle, well, aside from the trauma to her wrists where she pulled against the handcuffs," he said, gazing at the cuffs still melded to the wrists and knowing that they would need to be cut off at some stage. "There's no visible sign of head trauma or trauma to the body, but anything less than a bone fracture could easily have been covered up by the flames." He hated talking about Charlie in this way, but if he stopped and thought about it too much, he didn't think he would be able to go on. He frowned when his examination came back to her hands. Peering closer, he reached for the tweezers. "There's something under a couple of the fingernails on her right hand." Sid scraps some of it onto a clear plastic tray. Holding it up, he looks more closely at it.

"Could it be skin?" Holmes suggests. "She may have scratched her attacker."

"It's too badly burnt to tell what it is and even if it was skin, there wouldn't be enough to get a DNA sample from."

"Damn," mutters Holmes. "Is there anything under her fingernails on her left hand?"

"No," Sid said after checking. "Do you smell that?" he asks them. "I noticed it when I leant in closer."

Watson stayed back while Holmes walked over to the table and sniffed near the body. "Accelerant of some kind?"

Sid nods as he cuts a small section of charred clothing from the body and places it in a plastic bag. "I'll send a sample to the lab to find out what sort, but it seems to have been poured over most of her body."

Holmes rejoined Watson and gently squeezed her rather ashen looking colleague's hand in support. "We're nearly done," she whispers to Watson.

Sometime later, Sid concluded the autopsy. "I'm sorry Detectives, but the state of the body makes it hard to make any further determinations to any reliable degree."

"Thank you for your assistance Doctor and I'd like to ask one more thing, for you to run a tox screen," requests Holmes.

"I was already planning too, but chances are, any drug would have either evaporated in the heat of the fire or left her system by now anyway."

"Run it all the same."

"Fine," he said curtly.

"If anything further turns up, let us know immediately," Holmes tells him, before she swivelled on her heels without even waiting for a reply and headed toward the door, Watson beating her there.

Watson takes a moment to breath in the fresh air, well, it wasn't exactly fresh in the sterile hospital corridor, but it was an improvement on what had been in that room. "You think she might have been drugged?" she finally asks.

"Buckton was a trained police officer, yet someone got her to the scene and handcuffed her to the steering wheel." Holmes sighs in frustration. "I just wish we'd gotten something a bit more definite to show us if there was a struggle or not."

"The killer could easily have held a gun or weapon of some sort on her and we still don't know if our victim went there willingly or was taken there."

"And we may not find that out until we get our guy," Holmes muttered. "Was there a struggle, and if not, then was she drugged or had a weapon held on her, did she choose to meet the killer there or was she taken there by force?" she asked the questions without expecting a reply. Sighing, she shakes her head. "So many questions and not much in the way of answers."

"We've only just started."

"Maybe we'll have an answer or two quite shortly," said Holmes, her eyes watching Jack approach.

"Is it her?" Jack immediately asks.

"I'm sorry Jack, but Dr Walker has confirmed that it was her," Watson tells him in a compassionate voice.

"Fuck," he mutters, sitting down heavily on a nearby chair and covering his face with his hands. Even though he had pretty much resigned himself to hearing this news, having it confirmed still came as a heavy blow.

"Senior, are you ok to continue with this?" Holmes gently asks him.

"Just give me a minute or two." After a few minutes, he managed to compose himself and wiped the tears from his face.

"I know this is hard Senior, but we have to carry on. Now, is there anything new?"

Jack shakes his head. "Forensics and that are done with the scene, but I left it cordoned off and with an officer on guard until you say so."

"Very good and we can leave the guard there for the time being. Anything else?"

"I had Angelo take Casey to the station to get his statement while I went to Joey's place."

"What did she have to say for herself?"

"Nothing, I mean, I didn't speak to her. I knocked and called out a few times, but there was no answer. I tried her phone, both landline and mobile, but no answer there either."

"Perhaps she's done a runner."

"Joey's car was in the drive way."

"Then where is she?" Holmes demands to know.


	6. Chapter 6

_After many distractions and interruptions, the latest chapter is now up. The next update won't be until next Tue/Wed but should be back to more regular updates from then on._

* * *

"Joey runs, so she could be out exercising and if she had her headphones in, she may not have heard her mobile when I tried calling her earlier," Jack offered as an explanation to Joey's whereabouts.

"You seem to be trying to make excuses for her Senior," Holmes said, more as a statement than accusation.

"I just don't want to believe she had anything to do with this."

"Even after what was found at the crime scene and her now apparent disappearance?"

"I admit, it doesn't look good, but Joey just doesn't seem the type to have done something so horrible."

"We've had this conversation before Senior."

"Yeah I know, loved ones are often the first suspects, nothing should come as a surprise in our line of work, blah, blah." He sighs. "I'm sorry, I'm just," he shakes his head.

"Perhaps you should take the rest of the day off," she suggests with some compassion.

"No way," he replied adamantly. "Today has just all come as such a shock, but I can do this," he assured them.

"If I feel you're not up to it or your personal views are impeding this investigation in anyway, I will remove you from the investigation and even suspend you, if I have to," warned Holmes.

Fuming, Jack bit down on his curt response. The last thing he needed was to make the day even worse by pissing off the lead detective to the point where she kept him from the investigation. He took a calming breath before suggesting that maybe Joey could be another victim and that's why she couldn't be contacted.

Holmes glanced at Watson who tilted her head slightly, acknowledging the possibility.

"You could have a point there," concedes Holmes. "And until we locate Miss Collins, we should at least consider that possibility. In fact, why don't we go to her place right now and if we still can't contact her, then I think there is enough concern for her safety to warrant us breaking in to see if there is evidence that she met with foul play." Or evidence she had done a runner, she added silently. She wasn't really buying that her main suspect could be a victim, but it wouldn't hurt to check it out, even if only to discount it.

"Where is she?" came a harsh demand from behind them. Turning, Holmes and Watson came face to face with a rather large and angry looking man who was accompanied by a short, dark-haired woman who had to run to keep up with his long strides. "Well?" he demands.

"And who are you?" Holmes asked in a calm voice, not at all intimidated by him. She'd come across many bullies before and she picked him as one who liked to click his fingers and get what he wanted.

"I'm Charlie's fiancé," Brax said shortly.

"Don't you mean her ex?" She was quite enjoying the way his nostrils flared in anger and he tried to intimidate her even more by leaning in closer.

"Let me see her."

Jack put a hand on his shoulder and spoke softly but firmly. "Brax mate, you don't want to see her, not like this."

Brax visibly deflated in front of them. "It just can't be her," he said in a broken voice. He'd still been hoping against hope that Casey had been mistaken about the car or it was someone else who just drove a similar car, but now, all his bluster was deserting him as his world was collapsing down around him. "There has to be a mistake."

"I'm sorry Brax, but Sid has confirmed that it is Charlie." He nearly had to hold his friend up when it looked like Brax was about to collapse.

"There's no way Sid could be wrong?" He asked, still desperately trying to cling onto anything.

"Dentals are a match to Sgt Buckton," Holmes speaks up.

"Who the fuck are you?" his anger quickly returning, as it often did when he faced hard times and he saw no need to play nice to some nosey broad when life had once again been so unfair to him.

"Det. Holmes and my associate is Det. Watson and we're here to find out who did this to Sgt. Buckton."

Brax finally took real notice of both women, recognising Watson from her times in the Bay but he didn't really care who either of them were, because they weren't going to stand in his way. "I'll find the bastard and make him wish he'd never put one hand on her."

"You do that and I won't hesitate to throw you in jail. This is a police matter and we'll handle it."

"Not if I get there first."

"I won't warn you again Mr Braxton, stay away from this case."

"Just let them do their job, Brax," the woman who had accompanied him said.

"Shut up Leah," he snapped.

Holmes assumed this was the same Leah his now dead ex-fiancée had caught him with. What a guy, she thought, to bring his lover to the hospital where his ex lay dead. "While the two of you are here, perhaps you could answer a few questions."

Brax looked ready to protest until Jack pointed out that it would be better to get it over with now than down at the police station later.

"Fine, we'll talk."

"Separately," Holmes said. She turns to Jack. "Senior, I want you back at the station and working on tracing Buckton's movements from the moment she left work last night."

"Ok," Jack replied without argument. Right now, he just wanted away from the hospital.

* * *

Finding an empty room, Watson waited for Brax to enter before closing the door behind them.

"What do ya wanna ask me?" he asked cockily, determined to show he wasn't in the least bit worried about being questioned by the police. It was kind of like the old days, except this time, he was actually innocent.

"Where were you between 7pm last night and 4am this morning?" Holmes asked, getting straight down to business.

"I worked late after the restaurant closed to catch up on the books, then I went home with Leah. It would have been after midnight by the time we got back to my place."

"Anyone else see you?"

"How the fuck should I know!" he snapped.

"Mr Braxton, we understand your anger, but it achieves nothing and we are on the same side," Watson said.

"Look, you're wasting your time talking to me, when you should be out there and catching this fucker," or letting me find the bastard, he added to himself. "I know I fucked up by screwing Leah, but I have and always will love Charlie and there is no way I'd ever hurt her, and besides, we were working things out."

"What exactly does that mean?" asked Holmes. "Working things out?"

Brax's eyes darted nervously about before settling defiantly on hers. "I was seeing Charlie again."

"She had a girlfriend."

"Who can't give a woman what I can," Brax said rather smugly. "Don't get me wrong, I know Charlie loved Joey, but a woman just can't satisfy her in the same way a man can, that's why she always went back to men and she always loved what I have to offer." His smugness faded when he remembered that this time, she wouldn't be coming back to him.

Yeah, STDs is what Watson wanted to say while Holmes got in first. "You don't feel bad that two women are being cheated on?"

"Two?" he said in confusion. "Who's the other one, besides Joey?"

Holmes rolls her eyes while Watson muttered what a creep he was.

"Who's the little bit that followed you here, then, if not your lover?" Holmes asked rather sarcastically.

"Leah's just a friend, nothing more."

"She went home with you," she points out.

"So we have sex but it's nothing serious and Leah knows that."

Going by the lovelorn expression in Leah's eyes, it was much more than just sex for Leah, Watson thought to herself.

"It kills me to know that Charlie is gone forever," Brax said and despite his attitude, both women could hear the pain in his voice.

"We'll find who did this Mr Braxton, but just to remind you, keep out of our way and if you take justice into your own hands, then I will treat you the same way as I would Sgt Buckton's killer."

Brax smirked and said nothing.

"That's all for the moment, but we may need to talk to you again."

"I'm happy to help."

"You can start by sending in Miss Poulos," Holmes said, not believing him at all. He was going to be trouble if they weren't careful and the last thing they needed, was vigilante justice.

"What a fucking dirt bag sleaze," Watson said the moment he was out of earshot.

"Who obviously believes he's gods greatest gift to women." Before they could say more, Leah walked in.

* * *

Groaning, Joey slowly sat up, aching all over from having fallen asleep on the world's most uncomfortable couch. She ran her tongue over her mouth, screwing up her nose; her mouth felt dry and tasted like old socks, her head hurt, her arms itched and so she pretty much felt like shit.

Noticing the time, she reached for her mobile and found several missed calls from Jack but nothing from Charlie. Dialling her girlfriend's number, she frowned when there was no answer; her girlfriend should be at work and so she knew her mobile would be on. She thought about returning Jack's calls but with the pounding in her head, she decided to leave it until after she took an aspirin and had a shower. Rubbing at her itching arms as she stood, she rolled back the sleeves and stared in confusion at what she saw. "What the?"


	7. Chapter 7

Shaking her head, Joey tried to recall the previous night but came up blank and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't for the life of her, work out what had gone on or how she could have hurt her arms like that. Perhaps a cold shower would help clear her mind. She stretched, trying to get the kinks out of her back. God, that couch really was uncomfortable and she didn't know why she even kept it, especially as she had a habit of falling asleep on the damn thing and regretting it the next day. Walking to the bathroom, she nearly tripped over the shoes she had carelessly discarded some time during the night. Wincing at the walking dead person peering back at her from the mirror, she took an aspirin before stripping and stepping into the shower.

* * *

After speaking with Leah, Watson and Holmes walked out of the hospital, still with more questions than answers.

"Do you really think Braxton was back on with Buckton?" asked Watson "Or just trying to ease his wounded ego because his woman found another woman more desirable than him?"

"It's possible I suppose but if he's not lying and they were carrying on in secret, then it's going to be hard to prove either way. He could also be claiming an affair as a way of trying to throw us off, by making out that because he was back on with her, he would have had no need to hurt her."

"Leah backed up his alibi," Watson pointed out. "So I don't think he did hurt Buckton, aside from screwing her best friend, that is."

"I'm not sure how credible Poulos is though," said Holmes. "The guy is using her, yet she still thinks the sun shines out of his arse." Holmes glanced over at the woman in question. She had been slightly sickened by the way Leah had gushed about what a great guy Braxton was when they had spoken to her and there she was now, all over him as they jumped into his ute. "Ever get the feeling that Braxton is used to being questioned?"

Watson nods. "Probably from his gang days. I don't think he was ever charged with anything, going by what I've heard about him, but I think he was questioned as part of the gang when there was trouble."

"Just because he wasn't charged, doesn't mean he was innocent."

"Are you thinking they practiced their alibis?"

"If he killed Buckton, he would have known he would be a likely suspect and so prepared early and it's pretty obvious his little lap dog would do and say anything he wanted her to." Holmes waved at Brax and Leah as they drove by and found the smug expression on his face extremely irritating. "And after meeting Braxton, I'd definitely like to have him at the top of the suspect list, so Watson, I want you to call your buddy Angelo and have him double check Braxton's alibi to see if someone other than his doormat can corroborate his whereabouts and if he can't, then Braxton deserves a closer look."

"Would you like me to drive and call at the same time?" she asked dryly at the impatience she detected in Holmes voice.

"Ok, make the call, then drive. I assume you know the way to Collins' place?"

"Yeah, I got the address off Sid and I've been that way before."

"Good. You realise that if Braxton was telling the truth about him and Buckton having an affair and Collins found out about it, then that gives her a hell of a motive."

"Do you really think a woman could have done this though?" queried Watson. "I mean, this person stood there while a woman burnt to death, that's just," she shrugs. "I don't know, it seems rather extreme for a lover's tiff."

"A woman scorned is a dangerous thing and this does seem personal."

"Buckton was a cop, so this could be revenge for arresting someone."

"And we'll look into that, but for the moment, Braxton and Collins are our main suspects. Why don't you make the call to Angelo and then we'll be on our way."

* * *

"Thanks Angelo," Watson said as she hung up.

"I take it we have some news?" Holmes said.

"Const. Avery lives next door to Braxton and he got home at about 12.45 am last night and heard arguing coming from Braxton's place. He recognised Leah's voice. The arguing went on for some time, before and these were his words, 'going by the screams coming out, they were fucking each other's brains out for ages' and Avery said it was well past 3.30 before it was quiet again."

"What about Braxton's movements before then?"

"There's been a few late night burglaries of the businesses in the CBD, so there has been regular patrols that have been driving by and checking the area at night and the logs show that Constables Stevenson and Hogan noticed a light on at the restaurant just before midnight. It closes at 11, so they went in to check."

"And found Braxton working late," guessed Holmes.

"Yep. Angelo made a couple of calls while I spoke to Avery and can confirm that Braxton was there pretty much from 6 pm to when the Constables saw him and the same goes for Leah. She was seen locking up the diner at 9 pm and then went to the restaurant."

"That pretty much backs up their alibis," Holmes said with some annoyance. She'd have loved to have proved Braxton a liar.

"And it accounts for his whereabouts for most of the time frame we have on our murder," Watson said. "There is just no way he would have had time to have taken or met Buctkon at the scene, staged the fire and then waited around to extinguish it."

"Which means he's in the clear and we're back to Collins being our best suspect."

* * *

_ "Police have yet to make a formal announcement as to the identity of the body found earlier this morning, but sources close have named Sgt Charlie Buckton as the unfortunate victim. Sgt Buckton is a well-respected and loved member of the Bay and her death will be felt by many. If anyone has any information that could help the police, please call the police station immediately. Our thoughts at this devastating time are with her family and friends. This is Belle Taylor, your voice of the Bay."_

"Oh for fuck's sake," muttered Holmes, turning the car radio off. "I've never even met this Belle Taylor and I already don't like her. How in the hell did she even find out it was Buckton when we barely just found that out for ourselves?"

"Someone at the hospital or the crime scene probably told her or told someone who then blabbed to Belle."

"Fuck, I really wanted to keep a lid on this, at least until we tracked down Collins."

"Well, this is her place," Watson said, pulling into the driveway.

Getting out of the car, Holmes glared at the uniform across the road from where they were. She crossed her arms across her chest as Jack noticed them. "What the hell are you doing here when I thought I told you to go back to the station and start working on tracing Buckton's last movements?" Holmes demanded as he approached them.

"That's why I'm here. Colleen Smart, the neighbour across the road from Joey's, called in about seeing Charlie's car here last night."

"Let me guess, she heard all about Buckton from the radio," muttered Holmes, still pissed her name had been leaked.

"That seems about it. Belle has been repeating the story since I left the hospital." He shrugged apologetically. "It's impossible to keep anything a secret around here for long, especially something of this magnitude. I'm just glad Sid got onto Ruby first before she heard it elsewhere."

"Ruby?"

"Charlie's little sister. She's away at boarding school right now but is arranging to come back for Charlie's funeral."

"Any other family members in the area?"

Jack shakes his head. "Their dad died five years ago and their mum about seven years ago."

"So what did this Smart woman have to say?" Holmes asked.

"She saw Charlie's car parked outside of Joey's place from 8 pm last night until she drove off with Joey about an hour later."

"She's sure about the times and that Collins was with Buckton in the car?"

"Colleen Smart is the local town gossip and likes nothing better than to watch her neighbours for any goss, so yeah, she's sure about the times and about them leaving together. Poor old Colleen's a bit behind the times, so she was disgusted at the way they seemed to be all over each other as they walked to the car and was only too happy to tell me all about how wrong it is for them to be together."

"Did she see what time Collins made it home?" Holmes asked, not really concerned at the woman's likes or dislikes, only what she saw.

"No and I haven't found anyone else who saw her coming home. What did Brax and Leah have to say for themselves?" asked Jack

"They alibi each other and it's been corroborated by independent witnesses. Speaking of alibis, where were you between the hours of 7 pm and 4 am?"

"Are you seriously asking me for an alibi?" Jack said incredulously.

"Yes and we'll be asking every one of your fellow officers the same."

"My shift ended at 10 pm and I was with my wife for the rest of the night, until she dropped me off at work at 7.30 this morning."

Holmes nodded. As a requirement, they'd check with his wife, but she believed him. "Were you aware that Braxton and Buckton had resumed a sexual relationship?"

Groaning in disapproval at his friends actions, he shook his head. "I just can't believe Charlie would cheat on Joey."

"Is it possible Braxton is lying about the affair?"

"Brax is a mate but we don't always see eye to eye when it comes to women and Brax did take it pretty hard when Charlie hooked up with Joey, so yeah, I could see him lying about sleeping with Charlie, even if just to get back at Joey for taking what was his."

"You were there in High School when they broke up because of a suspected affair, but now that they're adults, how do you think Collins would react if she found out her girlfriend was still doing her ex or even just suspected she was?"

"I know it's not looking good for Joey, but I still can't picture her being so angry or hurt that she'd torture Charlie like that."

"I guess we'll just have to wait to ask her that ourselves then, if we can find her."

"Colleen thinks Joey is home."

"Then let's go and see for ourselves."

* * *

Knocking on Joey's front door, they waited a few moments to see if there would be any reply. Watson was just about to knock again when the door finally opened.

"Jack, what are you doing here?" asked Joey, wishing now she'd returned his calls when she saw that he wasn't alone.

"Where have you been Joey, I came by earlier and I tried calling but I couldn't get a hold of you?"

"I fell asleep on the couch."

"I knocked pretty hard and I could hear your land line ringing through the door."

Joey rubbed her head. "I guess I must have passed out, because I was here and I didn't hear a thing." The aspirin and shower had done little to clear her thoughts and she still wasn't feeling the best.

"Can we come in?" he asked gently, not at all looking forward to this.

"Sure," Joey readily agreed, curious and also a bit fearful as to who the other women were. She thought one of them looked familiar, but she couldn't quite place her and wished again that the fog would leave her brain. "What's going on Jack?" she asked as soon as they were all in the lounge room. "Who are these women?"

"These are Detectives Holmes and Watson and I'm not sure how to say this," Jack said hesitantly. He walked over to Joey and rested his hands on her shoulders. "Charlie is dead," he told her, hating how blunt he sounded.

"Is this some kind of joke, because it's not funny," Joey replied angrily.

"I wish it was Joey, but it's not. We found her body earlier this morning."

Joey just stared at him, before she finally registered what he was saying. "NO!" she cried out, sinking to her knees.

Watson's heart nearly broke at the heartbreaking keening coming from their suspect as she fell to her knees. She steeled herself against the woman's tears and told herself that Joey wouldn't be the first guilty party who could put on a very convincing sob story, remembering the man who had tearfully appealed to the nation for help in catching his wife and daughter's killer, only to later be arrested and convicted of the crime himself.

Jack knelt in front of Joey, thinking this was probably the closest he had ever felt to her right at that moment as they both grieved for a lost friend.

Noticing something of interest nearby, Holmes bends and picks up the shoes Joey had nearly tripped over earlier and shows them to Watson, who exhales softly in response. "Senior?" she said to get his attention. Jack stands up and leaves Joey's side. "Does that look like a burn mark to you and do they smell a bit smoky?" she asked Jack who reluctantly sniffed them and then nodded. He really was starting to wonder at Joey's innocence now. "Watson, have a look around," Holmes whispered to her while she studied Joey's reaction, which so far, had her seemingly oblivious to what they were talking about. "Her hair is wet, so start with the bathroom."

"Ok."

"I can't believe she's dead," Joey mumbled over and over as she rocked back and forth on her knees.

Jack returned to her side. "Joey, why don't you sit up here on the couch," he said with compassion.

"That couch isn't comfortable," Joey responded automatically.

"Can I get you anything Joey, you're not looking too well."

"I haven't felt very well since I woke up."

"You look a bit hung over," said Holmes.

"I don't remember drinking last night."

"Do you remember your girlfriend being here, because we have a witness who said she was?"

Joey covered her face with her hands and shook her head. "I don't know, I don't remember anything."

"It's ok Joey," Jack soothed.

Both he and Holmes look up as Watson walks back into the lounge. "There's a pile of clothes on the bathroom floor, but there's no burn marks and they don't smell smoky."

"Check the washing machine and clothes hamper," suggested Holmes.

"Already have. The hamper was empty but the washing machine wasn't. A load went through last night, along with a lot of bleach." She held up the clothes for them all to see. If there had been any evidence on them, it had likely been bleached away, but she bagged the clothes anyway, just in case they got lucky, though she doubted it; the bleach looked to have been very thorough in its work.

"I don't know what's going on," Joey said in a small, quavering voice. She didn't like the way the Holmes woman had been looking at her and she was starting to realise her expression was one of accusation.

"What's going on Miss Collins, is your girlfriend is dead and you have a lot of questions to answer," Holmes informed her. "Miss Collins, I think you should come down to the station with us."


	8. Chapter 8

Walking their suspect into the station, they're stopped by a woman, one Watson recognised. "Roo, I had no idea you were back from America," she said. The last time she'd seen Roo was when she split from her father over a decade ago.

"I came back last month." She surprised Watson with a hug. "It's good to see you again, I only wish it were under different circumstances."

"Same here." Watson stepped back from her and caught the look Holmes was giving her. "Roo is Jack's mother-in-law and also, my dad's ex-fiancee," she explained.

"Roo?"

"Ruth Stewart," answered Roo.

"So, how can we help you Miss Stewart?" Holmes said as politely as she could while wanting to get her suspect into an interview room and away from prying eyes.

"I'm a good friend of Joey's mother, who is overseas at the moment, so Pippa has asked me to keep an eye on her daughter until Aunty Morag arrives to represent her."

"Aunty Morag?" Holmes murmured.

"Roo's aunt is Battleship Bellingham," Watson whispered.

Holmes' eyes widened in surprise. Every cop in the city had heard of Judge Morag Bellingham and her hardline approach in court and most had breathed a sigh of relief when she retired from the bench, but not it seems, completely retired from practicing law.

"Morag is also Colleen Smart's sister," added Watson.

"You just have to love the interconnectedness of small towns," Holmes said dryly. Their witness was the sister of their suspect's lawyer and both women were also the aunts of her colleague's father's ex-fiance. Shit, she might need to keep a notebook on just how people were related or knew each other here if she was to keep track of everyone.

"Can I have a word with Joey?" Roo requested, interrupting Holmes' musings.

"I'm sorry, that won't be possible."

"Why not, she's right here and it's not like you can talk to her until her lawyer arrives," Roo pointed out.

Holmes glanced at Joey, who barely seemed to have registered that she was at the police station. The woman hadn't said a word since they'd put her into the back of the car. "Senior, take Miss Collins to an interview room," she ordered Jack, before turning her attention back to Roo. "You can speak to her there."

"Thank you. Georgie, we should catch up some time," Roo said, before she followed after Joey and Jack without even waiting for a reply from Watson.

"She calls you Georgie," Holmes said with a smirk.

"It is my name and even you've been known to call me by my first name occasionally."

"Yeah, I know, I guess I'm just so used to people calling you Watson, that I even sometimes forget you have a first name." Holmes nodded toward where Jack had led the two women. "What's this Roo woman like?"

"I haven't seen her in a decade or so, but back when she was with my dad, she was a nice lady and someone I found it really easy to talk to."

"I take it things didn't work out between your dad and her, then."

"Her ex arrived from the States, swept her off her feet and took her back with him." She shrugged, "Dad wasn't that cut up about her taking off though. I think he kind of regretted proposing as impulsively as he had and was happy for a way out."

"Considering she's insinuated herself into things here, it's probably a good thing she's not your step-mum. Actually, that would have made you related through marriage to our witness and the lawyer who is representing our suspect," Holmes chuckled, before her smile turned to a frown as she thought of something. "How did she find out we were bringing Collins here and then get here so quickly?"

"Most likely from our witness, the town gossip who would have been on the phone the moment the two Homicide Detectives everyone knew had been sent to investigate a murder, turned up at the house of the murdered woman's girlfriend," Watson explained. Colleen Smart would have recognised her the moment she stepped from the car and now, anyone who didn't already know, would be aware that the mayor's daughter was one of the Detectives sent to investigate. Maybe she wasn't the best Detective for Holmes to have brought along after all.

"I guess with Holden asking her questions about her neighbour and then our arrival, it wouldn't have taken her long to put two and two together and realise Collins was probably a suspect," Holmes said, bringing Watson's attention back to the discussion.

"And the second Roo found out we were speaking to Collins, she probably contacted Pippa and headed straight here, so that she could be waiting for us just in case we did bring Collins in," Watson added.

"We still haven't formally confirmed it to the public that it was Buckton though."

"It was on the radio and as much as we may hate it, I think we both know how loose lipped some cops and hospital staff can be about things they shouldn't be discussing with others and now, any statement we make would just be confirming what they already believe as truth."

"Fuck, this fishbowl where word spreads so quickly could get really annoying," Holmes' said with some frustration.

"Detectives?" Angelo called out to get their attention.

"What is it Constable?" Holmes asked, walking over to where he was.

"I ran the serial number on the cuffs found on Charlie." He couldn't halt the small shudder as he recalled the state of the wrists those cuffs had been on. "They're Charlie's police issue cuffs."

"Prints?"

Angelo shook his head. "Between the flames and extinguisher chemicals, there were no viable prints."

"Of course not, that would be too easy," muttered Holmes. "Are there any results back from the labs?"

"Only this," he said, handing the folder over. "They have put a rush on the rest but it will still probably be a day or two away before they start coming in."

"As soon as they do, I want to be notified, no matter what the hour is."

"I'll make sure everyone here knows that."

Holmes noticed the way Angelo kept glancing toward the interview room. "You have a question, Constable?"

"Do you really think Joey did this?"

"Anything is possible," is all she said.

* * *

The minute Jack had left them alone and closed the door, Roo squatted down in front of Joey, concerned by her continued silence. "Joey, honey, look at me please," she begged softly. She put her hand under Joey's chin and gently raised her head. "I know you're hurting, we all are, Charlie was loved by all of us, but you're in a bit of trouble here and I need you to put on a brave face and be strong. The Detectives are going to be asking a lot of questions and you need to answer them honestly and let them know you didn't do this."

"Maybe I did do it," Joey said too softly for Roo to hear. She couldn't remember a single thing, so maybe she did kill her girlfriend.

"Sorry honey?" Roo said. "Did you say something?"

Joey shook her head. No, there was no way she'd kill anyone, let alone the woman she loved. At least she didn't think she could do it, her doubts returning again. She desperately wished she could remember last night, even if only for her own piece of mind.

"Joey, honey, please say something."

"I just can't believe she's dead."

"I know, it's such a shock."

"They think I did this," she said tearfully, while keeping silent on her own doubts.

"That's because they don't know what a kind, sweet and caring woman you are."

"People will start believing them though."

"Joey, we'll prove your innocence and once Morag is here, she'll make sure they don't railroad you into this."

* * *

Two hours later and Watson and Holmes were standing on the other side of the window to the interview room, watching while Morag Bellingham spoke to her client.

"Why, oh why, did it have to be her," muttered Holmes.

"You ever faced her in court?"

"No, thank god, but my old Sergeant did. He made a mistake in a report, a pretty big one that let a rapist off on a technicality and Bellingham tore him to shreds in front of the whole court. He deserved to be held accountable for the mistake, but not to be humiliated like that."

"I'd heard similar things, only I also knew her as the scary aunt who made me want to miss any dinners Roo invited her to," Watson said. "She is certainly a woman who leaves a lasting impression with that personality of hers."

As if she knew they were speaking about her, Morag walked up to the window from the other side, glared at them and then indicated they should come in.

"And here we go," Watson murmured, feeling like she was about to enter the lion's den.

* * *

"I must say, Det. Watson, I'm still rather disappointed that you chose the police and not the bar when you decided on a career in the law," Morag said the moment they were in the door, her comment bringing up Watson's memory of the lengthy lecture Morag had given her when she'd foolishly said that being a lawyer sounded boring. That was an hour she wished her eleven-year-old self could get back, she thought as she took her seat by Holmes' side and tried not to squirm under that withering glare. It really was amazing that with just a look and a few words, Battleship Bellingham could make you feel like a child or that you had personally disappointed her in some way, even when it had nothing to do with her.

"Why don't we get straight into it," Holmes said.

"Yes, please do," Morag answered back mockingly.

If Holmes' was annoyed at Morag's condescending tone and attitude, Watson noted that she didn't show it or give anything away at all. Holmes had been in this caper for a few years more than her but she hoped that one day, she'd develop her own ability to mask her thoughts and feelings far better than she currently did, because there was nothing worse than having a suspect or their lawyer being able to read you too easily.

Opening up the folder Angelo had given to her earlier, Holmes pulled out a small plastic evidence bag and pushed it across the table until it rested in front of Joey. Recognising it instantly, Joey's hand flew to her neck, finally noticing the absence of the necklace she always wore.

Holmes smiled at Joey's reaction, confirmation that it was indeed hers. "Care to explain how that came to be in the victim's car?" she asked. "And how there came to be blood on it and the clasp broken?"


	9. Chapter 9

There were definite advantages to skipping over pleasantries and getting to the point, Holmes thought as Joey remained silent, her hand still at her neck as if trying to find the necklace. She doubted that Joey had even noticed her turning on the recorder the moment she sat down. Holmes glanced down at the pages within the folder. She had already memorised what she needed to from the report, but she made a show of reading it again, for Joey's benefit. "Forensics on the necklace have confirmed that it took considerable force to break the clasp and that force is most likely how the blood ended up on it, as it was pulled roughly against the owner's," her eyes caught those of the woman across from her. "Neck. We still need a DNA sample from you to compare it to, but I think your reaction has already told us that it will be yours." Joey still said nothing. "For the benefit of the tape, can you please state if the necklace is yours or not," Holmes requested of her.

"Yes," Joey said, her voice coming out in a croak as she struggled to take everything in. Charlie had given her the necklace with an extra strong clasp and thicker chain because she had a habit of breaking and losing them and now, it looked like that kind act was going to cause her a lot of trouble. She cleared her throat. "Yes, the necklace is mine."

Holmes stood and walked around the table.

"What are you doing Detective," demanded Morag.

Ignoring Morag's question, Holmes stood behind Joey and asked her to move her hair out of the way.

"Joey, don't do anything," Morag instructed her and Joey obeyed. "She has already stated the necklace is hers, Detective."

"I just want to see if there's a mark on her neck from when it was yanked off," Holmes said.

"Enough Detective," snapped Morag. "Her necklace proves nothing."

"It was found on the floor between the gear box and passenger seat of the victim's car and your client still hasn't answered my question as to how it ended up there"

"My client and the victim were dating, so it's hardly surprising that something of my client might be found in the car."

If it wasn't such a serious situation, Watson could quite enjoy watching two strong, determined women like Holmes and Morag going head-to-head and she had to concede that last point to Morag and Holmes seemed to agree with her as she took a different track.

"When was the last time you saw your necklace?" Holmes asked.

Joey frowned. The night was still blank to her, but the rest of the day was clear as she thought back to yesterday. "It would have been when I put it on in the morning, yesterday."

"So you have no idea when it came off?" she asked.

"I don't know, I mean, I never even noticed it was gone, so it could have been at any time."

"Like when you left with your girlfriend in her car last night?"

"I don't remember going out last night, but I suppose so," Joey replied before Morag could stop her. Morag was well aware that her sister had made a statement that placed Joey with Charlie last night but she had instructed Joey when they spoke earlier, to be careful how much she said, especially as she couldn't remember the details. "Or it could have been when we met for lunch."

"See," interjected Morag, seizing on that new piece of information. "It could easily have come off then."

"And what exactly could you have possibly been doing in the car that had enough force to break the clasp and not even realise it?"

Joey blushed and stared at the table. "We um," she closed her eyes as she was struck by a painful realisation. She would never again be with Charlie in anyway, ever again.

"Miss Collins?" prodded Holmes.

"We had sex," Joey barely whispered.

"You had sex in her car?"

"Yes."

"You often have sex in public?"

"Detective, please stick to the point," Morag cut in again. "My client has answered and given an explanation as to how the necklace came to be on the floor of the victim's car."

"So you're saying that sometime during sex in the car at lunchtime, the necklace could have been pulled off?" Holmes didn't even bother to hide the disbelief in her voice.

"Yes," Joey replied hesitantly.

"But you can't say with any certainty that it did come off during sex, can you, because you really have no idea when your necklace came off, even though it must have been hard not to have noticed a chain being yanked off so hard that it left blood?"

Joey felt like the Detective was trying to confuse her or trip her up with the way she was repeating things, especially with the doubt and derision she was putting into her tone.

"Really Detective, that's the best you can do?" Morag chided her. "I can recall several occasions during sex when I've never noticed until much later that I've received a scratch or a bruise, because the sex had been so intense at the time."

Watson nearly spluttered on the water she'd just taken a sip of. She really didn't want to imagine Battleship Bellingham having sex, let alone intense sex.

"Detective," Morag continued on. "Joey has answered the question and if you have any doubts, it's now up to you to prove it."

"Oh, I have doubts and so does your client. She's not sure herself, are you Joey, you don't mind if I call you Joey, do you?"

"Just get on with it Detective, my client and I have a life outside of here."

"So did Sgt Buckton," Holmes fired back. "Until she was brutally murdered." She sat back in her chair, studying her suspect.

Under the watchful gaze of the Detective, Joey felt like curling into a tight ball. The Detective was right, she had no idea when the necklace came off as she tended to forget about it once it was on, unless she was looking in a mirror or taking it off, on the other hand though, she and Charlie had been rather amorous at lunchtime, so that could very well be how it happened.

"Would you be willing to give a DNA sample?" asked Holmes after a moment or two of silence.

"For what reason?" demanded Morag. "My client has already admitted it is her necklace."

"I'm covering all bases."

"What bases?"

"Blood was found on a piece of evidence and I need to account for that."

Morag confers with Joey for a moment before answering. "My client will provide a DNA sample for that purpose only, but for anything else, you'll need a warrant."

Holmes nodded in assent. "Ok, moving on. The shoes we took from your client's house earlier, match the type of shoe and size of the print found at the scene."

"Joey, you've walked that way before, haven't you?" Morag asked her.

"Many times."

"Very convenient answers you have."

"Not really Detective," replied Morag. "You found a shoe print that might be my client's on a well used short cut she travels on and my client was dating the victim, hence the presence of the necklace. That's hardly convenient, just a matter of fact."

"The prints were found near the car and there appears to be a burn mark and smokey odour to the shoes. We're still waiting for the lab to examine the shoes, but perhaps your client could explain how her shoes came to be in that state."

"I don't know," admitted Joey.

"And the clothes? We found a load in the washing machine that had a rather nasty encounter with a lot of bleach or are you always in the habit of washing your clothes in so much bleach?"

"Maybe I grabbed the bleach by accident."

"You use laundry powder," Watson spoke up. "I checked."

Joey finally realised who Watson was. She was the Mayor's daughter. It was a shame that in all the years Watson had been visiting the Bay, their first time speaking to each other had to be because she was a suspect in a murder Watson was investigating.

"Did you have a warrant to search my client's place?" Morag asked.

"No," admitted Holmes. "But once we found the shoes, we had reasonable cause to search."

"We'll see what the magistrate has to say about that."

"You do that." Holmes' attention returned to Joey. "As my colleague pointed out, you use laundry powder, so that would make it kind of hard to get it mixed up with liquid bleach, especially as they come in completely different types of packaging."

"Maybe I was drunk. I don't remember drinking, but I must have, I mean, I didn't feel well when I woke up earlier, I had a headache and I can't remember anything from last night. I also didn't hear the phone or Jack knocking on the door, so I must have been really out of it. Even you said I looked hung over."

"You always drink yourself into oblivion?"

"I don't drink much at all."

"Yet the night your girlfriend was murdered, you got so drunk, you can't remember anything at all and you used bleach instead of laundry powder. What was it, were you trying to drown away your guilt?"

"Do you have a proper question, Detective?" Morag interrupted.

"There seems to be a lot you client is not sure of or doesn't remember. She can't even remember if she was drinking or not."

"Again, do you have a proper question?"

"I guess it's a waste of time asking you where you were between 9 pm and 4 am? Maybe this will prod your memory," Holmes said. "We have a witness who places the victim at your house from 8 pm until you drove off with her an hour later, now, are you sure you can't remember what happened after you left your house?"

Joey shook her head.

"What about what time you got home?"

Again, Joey shook her head. "I don't remember any of it."

"You know, I've gotten drunk the odd time myself, but even if things are fuzzy the next day, I usually remember something."

"I don't know what happened last night but I would never hurt Charlie," Joey said quite loudly. "I love her."

"Perhaps whoever did this to Charlie, also drugged Joey," suggested Morag.

"Why not kill her too?" countered Holmes.

"Why don't you ask the killer that when you catch him," she answered back.

"One minute she's drunk, now she's drugged." Holmes tutted. "It's too bad you never thought of the drug excuse before, because by now, even if there had been drugs in her system, they'd be long gone by now. However, alcohol stays in the system for some time and if your client had drunk enough to pass out, then some of it would still be in her system now, so if you'd submit to a breathalyser, we can either rule alcohol in as a factor or rule it out."

"Ok, I'll do it," Joey said before Morag could speak up.

"Watson, go get a breathalyser."

Five minutes later, Watson was reading the results. "No alcohol in her system at all," she declared to the others. Joey felt faint at the news. If she wasn't drunk, why did she feel so bad this morning and couldn't remember anything? Could Morag be right, she was drugged by Charlie's murderer? Or worse, she killed Charlie and had blocked out the memories.

"I think we can rule out being drunk then," Holmes said. "Now, roll up your sleeves."

"What for?" demanded Morag.

"Because I want to know why she's been rubbing her arms ever since she was brought in."

"Get a warrant," Morag told her.

"I can call the magistrate right now."

"They don't just hand out warrants just because you ask them nicely," Morag said snidely. "You need a legitimate reason."

"How about skin was found under the victim's nails that showed she scratched someone while defending herself?"

"Skin, really Detective, because I saw nothing in the autopsy report about that, only that the M.E. found something under her fingernails that could not be identified."

Damn, Holmes muttered to herself, she'd been hoping they hadn't found that out yet and now she wondered how in the hell Morag already had access to the autopsy report when she herself had yet to receive a copy from the M.E. It was a good thing she'd been there during the actual autopsy though or the lawyer would have had far more information than she did to keep ahead of them.

"The report also said there were no visible signs of a struggle," Morag added.

"The M.E. did point out that the fire could have covered up signs of a struggle. Of course, you could be right though, there might not have been a struggle because she knew her killer," said Holmes. "She was with a woman she trusted, so very easy for her to then be caught off guard until the cuffs snapped shut on her, cuffs that belonged to Buckton, which your client could easily have had access to." Holmes reached for her phone. "Should I call the magistrate, because I can be very convincing, especially as the M.E. couldn't rule out that it wasn't skin."

"It's ok," Joey said. "I'll roll up my sleeves."

"No Joey, there's no guarantee she will get the warrant."

"Are you 100% sure she won't?"

Reluctantly, Morag shook her head. Some of her colleagues were sticklers for making the cops be very convincing as to why they should be granted a warrant, while others needed little convincing.

Joey felt there was little point in delaying things, so she rolled up her sleeves. She'd noticed the scratches when she'd woken and they were part of the reason why she was doubting her own innocence.

"I'm guessing the scratches are yet another thing you can't remember getting." Holmes turned to Morag. "I'm sure with all your experience, that you've seen similar scratches presented before you in court and are well aware of how someone comes to get them."


	10. Chapter 10

_"I'm guessing the scratches are yet another thing you can't remember getting." Holmes turned to Morag. "I'm sure with all your experience, that you've seen similar scratches presented before you in court and are well aware of how someone comes to get them." _Holmes smiled slightly. "Or are you going to try to convince me that she got them from sex?"

"If my client was also attacked, she could have gotten those scratches then."

"Granted, if your client had been defending herself against a blade or sharp object of some sort, then you'd expect defensive wounds, except I think we both know that those particular wounds on her arms come from fingernails and are more like those found on assailants who were trying to subdue someone and their victim fought back and scratched them." Holmes' eyes bored into Joey. "Perhaps when you were putting the cuffs on your girlfriend, she scratched you." When Joey said nothing, Holmes continued on. "After all, we don't know for certain that there wasn't a struggle and the evidence to it then lost to the flames."

"That goes both ways, Detective, in that the reason why there was no sign of a struggle was because there was none, but you can't know for certain, either way," Morag stated. Joey was proving to be her own worst enemy, thought Morag, wishing she'd kept her sleeves down.

"All the same, we'll take photos of the scratches and add them to the rest of the evidence."

"Evidence!" Morag scoffed. "All you have are bits and pieces which you're trying to get to fit together so you can blame it on my client."

"Well, it's a shame your client can't clear this all up by telling us what the hell she was doing last night," Holmes fired back as Watson snapped a few photos of Joey's arms. "Do you even have the slightest idea how you got those scratches on your arms?"

Staring at the evidence on her arms, Joey shook her head. "I don't know."

"Of course you don't," Holmes said sarcastically.

"Detective, I'm growing tired of this," Morag said with a bored tone. "And you seem to be forgetting one very important thing."

"Oh, and what is that?"

"What possible motive could my client have to murder the woman she loved?"

"That's easy, it's one of the oldest motives there is," she replied, her eyes holding Joey's. "Jealously."

Joey looked at her in confusion. "Why would I be jealous?"

"Darryl Braxton has claimed that he was having an affair with your girlfriend."

"He's lying!" Joey said with some heat.

"You mean like Hugo Austin lied?" Holmes said with a smirk.

Joey wished she had believed Charlie back then, but everything pointed to her sleeping with Hugo and unfortunately, a lot of harsh words and insults had been thrown at each other before she'd found out the truth and their relationship had disintegrated as a result.

"You believed Hugo at first and you ended up breaking up with your girlfriend, so maybe once again, you believed she was cheating on you, only this time, there was some truth to it and that made you angry, so very angry and you couldn't handle it, but instead of ending the relationship, you ended her life."

Morag clapped. "Bravo, Detective, what an interesting tale you're spinning. Are you just making this up as you go along?"

"We're just following up on a statement made by Mr Braxton about the affair."

"He could be lying about an affair just to cover up his own part in Charlie's murder," Morag calmly pointed out.

"We've cleared Braxton of any involvement."

"He's still lying about Charlie," Joey said.

"Who are you trying to convince of that, us or yourself? Your girlfriend had a reputation for promiscuity."

"That was years ago."

"Some people never change their spots. Maybe you thought she had, that's why you got back with her, only you found out she was still getting around."

Joey shook her head empathically.

"Or did she tell you that it was over and she was going back to her ex-fiance?" Holmes said next. "And you decided you didn't like that one bit."

"That's not true!" Joey shouted out. "And I'd never hurt Charlie, I love her."

"Darryl Braxton loved her too, but that didn't stop him having sex with Leah Paulos." Holmes sat back in her chair. "In my line of work, I've seen how love can twist someone and make them do things they may never have dreamed they were capable of."

"You have no proof of an affair except for the words of a jealous man," Morag interrupted her. "And you haven't shown any evidence to suggest that my client was even aware of a possible affair."

"You were gone from the Bay for some time, so why did it take so long for you to come home?" Holmes asked with a change of direction.

"I needed a change of scenery after high school, so I left and made a new life for myself, one I enjoyed, but when an opening came up at the hospital, I realised it was finally time to come home."

"So coming home had nothing to do with your high school sweetheart?"

"No, it had absolutely nothing to do with her. Besides, I'd heard from my sister, Sally, that Charlie was engaged to Brax, so there would have been little point coming back for someone who wasn't available."

"Were you upset about that news?"

"Why would I be? I hadn't been with Charlie since I left town as a teenager and we'd both moved on in that time."

"You and Sgt Buckton didn't part on the best of terms though, did you?"

Joey shrugged. "Charlie and I were young back then, we both made mistakes and our relationship didn't survive but when I came home, that was all in the past."

"Were you and Sgt Buckton involved at any time during her engagement to Mr Braxton?" Jack had denied any hint of impropriety earlier, but she preferred to see her suspect's response in person.

"Our only involvement was as friends."

"I bet you swooped in the moment the engagement was over."

"I was there for Charlie because she was heartbroken, but nothing happened until she was ready to move on."

"How long was that?"

"I don't know, a month or two."

"That's not long to move on from a broken engagement."

"They were over and done with, and the more time Charlie and I spent together, the more we realised the old feelings were still there."

"Detective, where are you going with this?" demanded Morag.

"I'm just getting some background information."

"Why, to make it easier for you to twist things to suit whatever theory you come up with next?"

"I don't work that way."

"I'm aware of your history, Detective. Quite impressive, for one so young, but success can breed complacency and complacency can lead to sloppy investigations. Are you even considering other suspects?"

"We're considering all options," Holmes replied in an even voice.

"Yet Joey is the only one who has been dragged in for questioning."

"Because that is where the evidence is leading us."

"Or it's just where you want it to lead," countered Morag. "I suggest you expand your search," she said, pulling a file out of her briefcase and handing it over to Holmes.

"What's this?"

"Potential suspects," she answered as if it should have been obvious. "As a police officer, Charlie was responsible for putting a lot of people in jail and for some," she pointed to the file. "That's enough to want revenge."

Holmes scanned the list of names and case file numbers. Watson had mentioned the same thing earlier, but as of yet, they hadn't even had time to discuss it any further, so Holmes had to admire Morag for how prepared she had come in such a short time. "We are looking into that angle, but your client remains our best suspect."

"You mean the easiest suspect. Just blame it on the loved one, right?"

"Like I said, I don't work that way." She smiled, looking relaxed and confident. "We can place your client with the victim the night she was killed, then there is the necklace, clothes, shoes and the scratches, so it's not looking too good for your client right now."

"We've explained the necklace."

"You've offered a theory on the necklace, same with the shoe print at the scene, but what about the state of her shoes, the bleaching of her clothes and the rest of it?"

"If the killer drugged Joey, he could then use her house keys to grant him access to her things, which would then allow him to stage everything to make her look guilty."

"And you say I spin an interesting tale," Holmes said with a wry smile. "Yours is a bit farfetched though."

"It's a viable defence, if I choose to pursue it," Morag said confidently. "Detective, all I have to do is offer convincing theories to the jury, because it's the prosecution who has to provide the facts, which I don't think your evidence can back up beyond a reasonable doubt." This time, it was Morag who was smiling and looking relaxed. "My client is innocent and I'll vigorously defend her to prove that."

"How do you know she's innocent, because according to her, she can't even remember last night, so who's to say she didn't do this?" Both Watson and Holmes studied their suspect closely. "I think she even has doubts herself."  
"Enough, Detective," snapped Morag.

"Tell me Joey, how hard was it to stand there while your girlfriend screamed in agony as she was lit up like a Christmas tree?" Holmes said in a deliberately cruel and offensive way to gauge her reaction.

Watson thought Joey looked positively sick at Holmes' tactless description. From the moment the interview had started, she'd kept a close eye on her, watching to see how she responded through body language and she wasn't sure what to think at this moment. There were times when it did look like Joey had doubts about herself, yet despite the evidence mounting against her, Watson wasn't entirely convinced they had the right person. Maybe it was because she was still finding it hard to believe that this attractive young woman could have murdered her lover in such a heinous way, and had to keep reminding herself that she'd been in this business long enough to know that she shouldn't let tears or appearances influence her opinion.

"Oh god," Joey murmured, almost gagging on the image presented to her.

"That's it, this interview is over," Morag said, leaping to her feet. "Either charge my client or we're leaving right now."

Watson was surprised by Holmes' reply. "Your client is free to go," she said. "For now, but this murder was planned, right down to having a fire extinguisher handy, so that makes this premeditated murder and as soon as we have enough to prove it, your client will be charged with murder." With that promise, Holmes reached over and turned off the recorder.

"Come on Joey." Morag helped her unsteady client to her feet. Pausing at the door, she turned back to the two detectives. "Another suspect you should consider is Angelo Rosetta."

Holmes didn't need to look at her partner to imagine the shock on her face.

"Charlie gave him a bad performance review and it cost him a promotion. Their argument over it was quite explosive, so I'm told," Morag calmly said as she closed the door behind her and Joey.


	11. Chapter 11

"Watson?" Holmes gently prodded her partner who was still staring in shock at what Morag had just told them as she departed.

Watson shook herself out of her thoughts. "I'm sorry, for a moment there, I found myself in Jack's position in not wanting to believe someone I know could be responsible for doing something so terrible to another person."

"Do you think Angelo could be capable of murder?"

"Like you've said many times before, anyone is capable of murder with the right motivation," only this time, she hoped Angelo didn't have any such real motivation. He had been one of the few friends she'd had in this town when she had visited her father and though Angelo's reaction to her realising she was a lesbian had caused a strain on things and they'd barely spoken since then, she still cared some for him and didn't want him to be a part of this heinous crime in any way.

* * *

Joey was feeling incredibly drained as Morag led her out of the station with Roo. She hadn't even had time to really process everything that had happened or to even start to grieve for Charlie and her doubts about her own innocence was starting to wear her down.

"I spoke to Pippa again," Roo said. "She and Sally are trying to find a flight home. Joey?" She said a little louder when Joey didn't respond to her.

"Huh?"

"Pippa and Sally are trying to get a flight home."

"They don't need to do that."

"Of course they do Joey, they're your family and they want to be here for you."

"I don't want them to see me go to jail."

"That's not going to happen," Morag said with some confidence. "Joey, I want you to go to the hospital and have some blood taken. Detective Holmes was right in saying that any drugs would have probably left your system by now if you were drugged, but we still should check and a blood test is also better at picking up any residual alcohol that a breathalyser might miss if you were drinking last night."

"I'll take her to the hospital," offered Roo.

"I don't think I could have been drunk though, I mean, surely I would have remembered something if I was just drunk, but I can't and I don't even know why I would get drunk anyway," Joey said. "Unless I did kill Charlie and then I drank myself in to oblivion to try to forget it." Her head was hurting again, only this time it was her overactive imagination and confusion that was bringing on a headache.

"You need to stop thinking like that Joey and to not buy into any of the Detective's theories," Morag told her. "Because if you don't believe in your own innocence, then I'm going to have a hard time convincing a jury of it."

"I can't help it," Joey mumbled weakly. "I can't remember a single thing about last night and how do you explain this?" she said, holding her arms out for them to see.

"We'll have those scratches checked out at the hospital," Morag said.

"But how do you explain them?" Joey persisted.

"I don't believe for one second you did this, Joey, so I'm confident there is an explanation," Roo said to her.

"Such as you being set up," Morag added.

"Who would want to set me up?" asked Joey.

"You're the girlfriend of the victim, and unfortunately in a murder like this, that was always going to make you a likely suspect," Morag explained. "So it makes sense for someone to set you up to hide their own involvement." She looked at Joey. "There are two innocent victims here in this, Joey and that is, you and Charlie."

"Then how do we prove it?"

"Well for starters, I want you to see this woman." She handed Joey a business card. "Her name is Rachel Armstrong, she's a counsellor who works at the drop-in-centre in Mangrove River and she has experience working with victims of crime in the past and is especially adept when it comes to helping people recall details, so she may be able to help you to remember."

"What if I chose to forget because I am guilty?"

"Even if you were guilty, which I don't believe you are, you would still need to remember so we could put up a defence and counter any argument or evidence the prosecution may come up with." Morag had her hands on Joey's arms, holding her eyes. "I know you're innocent, not just because I know you would never be capable of committing such a crime, but because there's a lot that just doesn't ring true about the case. The murder was planned, the killer even went prepared for the fire, yet despite planning the when and where for the murder to ensure they could get away completely undetected, there is all this evidence left behind that is pointing to you with a big red arrow saying '_this way to the killer_'. Add in your memory loss and that is enough to convince me that there is every chance you are being used as the scapegoat for someone else's crime. And there is another reason why you might have forgotten what happened last night and that is because you witnessed what happened to Charlie and the trauma has affected you."

"So possible reasons for my amnesia include, being drugged by the killer, being traumatised by witnessing Charlie being killed or I actually did it but it left me traumatised by guilt," Joey murmured. "Not exactly encouraging reasons for me to want to remember."

"Unfortunately, your memory is going to be one of the most important elements of this case, especially if you were a witness to what really happened and so you are going to have to try to remember." She smiled encouragingly at her. "And it might actually help your emotional state by remembering and realising that you did not hurt Charlie."

"What about those other suspects you gave to the detectives?" Roo said. "Do you really think one of them or even Angelo, could be involved?"

"I have no idea. All I did was provide them with the names of people who may have more cause to hurt Charlie than Joey ever did and it's now up to the detectives to follow up on it."

"Why didn't you say something to them about Angelo sooner?" Joey asked. Despite her own predicament, she had a hard time imagining Angelo as the killer.

"I wanted to see what they had on the case and admittedly, there's a lot of evidence, but at the same time, its evidence I can find a way to counter. I am going to fight for you Joey but you're going to have to help me do it."

"I don't know if I can go through this."

"I'm not going to lie to you Joey, this is going to be a trying time for you and extremely emotional, but you'll get through this, because you have family and friends who love you and will support you."

"Every step of the way," added Roo.

"I just wish I had Charlie here," Joey whimpered tearfully. Roo hugged the young woman to her as her body shook with her sobs.

* * *

"Why did you stop the interview so early?" Watson asked as they started to gather up the files they'd brought into the interview room.

"Bellingham had answers for everything and so we weren't going to get any further today," Holmes replied. "When all the reports are back, including the type of accelerant and fire extinguisher used, then we can piece it all together and then hit them with the lot. In the meantime though, we're going to have to have a little chat with Angelo and start on this," she said of the file in her hands. "It looks like every damn case Buckton has ever worked on."

"We were going to have to investigate this angle anyway," Watson pointed out.

"Yeah, but I just don't like Bellingham telling us how to do our job." She smiled wryly, "It is an effective tactic on her part though, because now, by giving us the names, she knows we're going to have to look at them all, just in case she brings it up in court."

"It's going to take forever," Watson muttered as she read down the rather extensive list.

"We can start with those who still claim their innocence and those sentenced to the longest terms, then work our way down to the others."

"Should we look for a connection between any potential suspects and Joey, I mean, if someone is setting her up, is it because she's just the obvious choice as the girlfriend or because someone has it in for her as well as Buckton?"

"Consider both angles," Holmes conceded wearily. She had a feeling she and her colleague were going to be in Summer Bay for some time. "I still like Joey as our best suspect for this though, especially after seeing those scratches on her arms. It's just a shame that the fire caused so much damage that we can't prove if it was skin under Buckton's nails or not."

"Even if we had proven it was Joey's skin, I'm sure Morag would have come up with a reasonable explanation for it," Watson said with a small smile. As much as Morag put the fear into a lot cops and even defence lawyers when she was a judge, she was also greatly admired for her legal acumen and so they both knew they were going to have a fierce fight on their hands with Morag as an opponent.

"Yeah, probably. I don't buy for one second that the necklace could have come off during sex or the other explanations Bellingham offered, but if she can spin a convincing enough tale to the jury, she can cause some doubt in their minds, even about the scratches and that's all she has to do, so we're going to have to make sure our evidence against her client is rock solid. At least that is one thing we got from this interview and that is we have some idea on the direction the defence may take and I have to say, as farfetched as suggesting her client was set up sounds, it's just crazy enough to work on a jury, especially if Joey sits there looking all innocent in her amnesiac state."

"You think the memory loss is real?"

"She is pretty convincing and I have to admit, she didn't look well when we arrived at her place, but that doesn't mean she was drugged by someone else. If the memory loss was chemically induced, then it could just as easily have been self-administered as a way to use the resultant memory loss for her defence or maybe she just wanted to forget what she had done. As a nurse, it would be easy for her to find out about drugs that affect the memory and get access to them and if she did get her hands on drugs, she may very well have used them on Buckton as well and that was why there was no sign of a struggle."

"Except for the scratches on Joey's arms," Watson pointed out. "If Buckton was drugged, how did Joey get scratched?"

"Ok, so maybe the scratches came earlier in the attack or Buckton wasn't drugged at all."

"Dr Walker wasn't hopeful of Buckton's tox screen coming back with any sign of drugs so we may never know unless we get a full confession from the killer."

"Yeah, I know." The M.E. was another thing she found annoying about this case, especially with the way Bellingham had been given access to the autopsy report before them and she said as much to Watson.

"Joey's a colleague of Dr Walker's and the defence is entitled to know the details of the autopsy, so I'm sure he had no hesitation in forwarding the report to Morag if she asked for it," Watson explained, though they both knew that the defence didn't have to be told the details until after the suspect was charged.

"I guess so, but I'd also love to know how she got access to that list of names in such a short amount of time."

"All case files in the State are on the same Police database and Morag no doubt still has a lot of contacts within law enforcement, so a couple of phone calls and it all could have been waiting for her here while she made her way here. She did pick up a file from the reception desk that she said had been faxed through to her."

"Bellingham is definitely going to keep us on our toes," Holmes muttered. "I have to admit though, to being a little hesitant about having some of the officers here involved in the investigation. There just doesn't seem much separation, I mean, look at Holden, you said his wife was related to Bellingham and Miss Stewart, who are both clearly on the suspect's side and he's even related by marriage to our witness."

"It's a small town, most of the cops would have a connection to someone involved in this case or any other case for that matter, but I'm sure they're professional enough to set aside personal feelings and do their job," she assured her.

"You're right, except now we have to go and interview one of those officers as a potential suspect." She paused when Watson didn't follow her to the door. "What is it?"

"It just feels like you're convinced Joey's guilty and so we're just wasting our time talking to Angelo and investigating people Buckton put away, because you think it's nothing more than a ploy by the defence to cast doubt."

"It seems to be working with you. You're clearly having doubts."

"I don't know, there's just," she shrugged. "I just can't shake the feeling that there's more to this than just a jealous woman killing her lover."

"Believe me Watson, I've felt like that myself on some cases, but then I realised I felt that way because I hadn't been willing to believe that person was capable of such a crime and it affected my judgement and made me want to look for something more that just wasn't there." She sighed, "Watson, I've been at this longer than you, so all I can say, is we stick to the evidence we have before us and follow it to wherever it leads."

It was the evidence that was bothering her, Watson thought as she followed Holmes out of the room.

* * *

"Joey and the others have left," Jack said the moment they rejoined him in the reception area. "But not before she provided this," he said, handing over the evidence bag with the swab he'd taken from Joey. "It comes with a message from Morag, who made it quite clear that it is for the purpose of comparison to the blood on the necklace only."

"Have it sent to the lab," Holmes replied. "Jack, why didn't you tell us about Angelo's argument with Buckton?"

"I'm sorry, I'm still mentally processing everything that has happened today and in all honesty, I didn't even think of that."

"He had an argument which was described as quite explosive, with our victim, and it didn't occur to you we might need to know about it?"

"It wasn't that big a deal."

"That's not what we heard. The bad performance review the Sergeant gave him cost him a promotion."

"Ok, they argued and yes, it got ugly at one point," Jack admitted. "But Angelo and I talked about it over a beer afterward and he totally accepted that he'd fucked up and deserved that bad review."

"So he wasn't angry at Buckton anymore?"

"Only at himself and he even apologised to Charlie about the argument."

"Still, we need to speak to him and ask him where he was at the time of the murder." Holmes looked around the office. "Where is he?"

"He wasn't feeling well and he left not long after Morag did."


	12. Chapter 12

Angelo sighed as she climbed out of the bed and started to dress. He'd left work early so he could be with her before she had to get home and they'd spent the last hour like they usually spent their time alone, going at it hard and fast until they were both glistening with sweat and couldn't go on any longer.

"Why don't you leave him and marry me?"

She glared at him. "Because I love my husband."

"Which is why we've been carrying on behind his back all these months." He sat up and made no attempt to cover his nakedness. "We're good together."

"We have sex Angelo and that's it." She sighed and shook her head at him. "I am not leaving him and if you can't deal with that, then we're over."

Once she was dressed, she sat down on the edge of the bed. "Who do you think killed Charlie?"

"I think the D's are pretty confident it's Joey."

"They're about the only ones who are then. I just can't see Joey doing this, not when she loved Charlie so much."

"Look, Morag is on the case, so if Joey is innocent, then she'll get her off."

"What do you mean, if she's innocent?" she said, looking intently at him. "Are you saying you believe she could have done this?"

"From what I've seen, that's what the evidence is saying."

"Angelo, you've known Joey a long time, how could you even suspect her?"

"Because I've seen it before, with people hurting those they love and as for Joey, she was away for a long time, so who is to say she didn't change while she was away."

"I suppose that's true."

"Look, I don't know if I really believe she did it or not, but the evidence against her is pretty damning and in the end, we may have to accept that she was capable of this."

She shook her head. "I just hate the thought that one of us is capable of such a thing."

"So do I, but someone did do this and right now, everything points to Joey."

He grabbed her arm and pulled her down and rolled on top of her. "I meant what I said about us before."

"So did I. Angelo, I've told you from the beginning that I love him and will never leave him."

"What about me?" he said as he hiked up her skirt and pulled down the knickers she'd only just put back on.

"We're friends Angelo, nothing more," she said, allowing him to position her on her hands and knees.

"We're friends who fuck and often and your body always lets me know just how much you enjoy having me inside it," he said and demonstrated by thrusting hard inside her and making her groan in pleasure.

"Don't make this complicated Angelo, because you will be the one who will lose if you force me to choose," she said, thrusting back against him as her body betrayed her and she gave herself to him again.

* * *

Watson walked up the path toward the house Angelo had moved into since she was last in town. In a way, it was a relief he'd moved, as she would have felt uncomfortable if she'd had to have spoken to him as a murder suspect in a house she'd had some fun times in as a kid or have had her father watching from next door.

"Why don't you let me do the talking," suggested Holmes when they reached the front porch.

"That's probably best," agreed Watson as Holmes raised her hand to the doorbell, only to pause her hand above it.

_"Yes, yes, yes, oh god, fuck me, yes!"_

Watson and Holmes glanced at each other, their faces breaking into grins at the sounds of pleasure coming from inside the house.

"Guess he's feeling better," quipped Holmes. She took a perverse pleasure in interrupting his enjoyment by pressing the doorbell.

* * *

It took a couple of more presses of the doorbell before it reached the sex fogged brains inside.

"Oh god, we need to stop," she panted.

"I'm too close," Angelo groaned, speeding up his thrusts when she made no attempt to move from beneath him. "Nearly there," he panted, his hands sliding under her top and squeezing her bra-clad breasts hard with each thrust of his hips, forcing even louder cries of pleasure from her.

* * *

Holmes smirked and shook her head at the frantic sounds of passion that going by that last shout, had finally reached a conclusion. She glanced at her partner, trying to imagine her in place of whoever that woman was and she couldn't. Even though she knew Watson had dated Angelo, from the moment they had met, she had only ever been able to picture her with a woman.

"Do you recognise her voice?" she asked Watson.

"Ah no," Watson replied, though it sounded vaguely familiar, but it was hard to distinguish the voice with the way the woman was moaning and groaning.

* * *

"I can't believe this," she said as she hurriedly put her clothes back into place. "You should have stopped when I said."

"Don't panic, no one is coming in until I open the door."

"We have to stop doing this Angelo," she said, walking over to his bedroom window. "This was too close."

"This is the first time we've even come close to being caught and you have to admit, it added something to the moment."

She rested her head against the window, unable to deny his words. Her breasts would probably be bruised from the rough handling but the last frantic moments had been the best sex she'd ever had. "I'll call you," she said, opening up the window and despite the indignity of the escape and praying no one was around to see her, she climbed through.

Angelo grinned happily as he pulled on a pair of jeans, closed the bedroom door behind him and went to see who had interrupted him. He was pissed his session was cut short, but he was more certain now than ever that he could win her for himself. He felt guilty to be screwing her while she was married, but he couldn't help how he felt; he loved her and he wanted her.

He nearly froze like a deer in headlights when he found his ex and her partner on his doorstep.

"I hear you're feeling much better now," Holmes said in greeting as she and Watson walked inside. Holmes crossed her arms and stared at him. "Your friend and colleague was murdered today, yet here you are, leaving your post early to have sex."

"My shift was nearly over anyway," he replied. "And people deal with things in different ways and mine was seeking comfort with a woman."

"What's her name?" asked Holmes.

Watson glanced toward the closed door to what she suspected was the bedroom. Whoever the woman was, she didn't appear to be in any great rush to join them.

"Why do you need to know that?"

"I'm just wondering if she's your alibi for the time when Buckton was murdered."

"What?" Angelo replied incredulously.

"Come now Constable, you must have realised we'd be asking every officer she worked with for their whereabouts for the timeframe of her murder?"

Angelo hesitated before answering. "I left work at 6 and was home alone until I arrived at the station at 7 this morning."

"I think perhaps we should go down to the station to talk a little more," suggested Holmes.

"If it's all the same with you, unless I'm under arrest, then we can talk here."

"Fine. You have no alibi for Buckton's murder and you have a motive."

"What motive?"

"She cost you a promotion."

"No she didn't, I cost myself that promotion and once I realised that, I didn't blame Charlie at all for it."

Holmes' eyes darted Watson's way. He sounded quite sincere when he said that.

"Look, Charlie and I had our moments, largely because I don't always take orders or criticism well at times, but I had no reason to kill her, besides, I thought you were looking at Joey for this?"

"We're keeping our options open," replied Holmes evenly.

"Well it wasn't me."

"We can't just take your word for that now, can we?"

"Tell you what, you get some evidence that I was involved, then come and talk to me again, because we're done now."

"Very well Constable, but for the moment, I'm removing you from the investigation."

Angelo bristled at that as it made it look like he couldn't be trusted.

Watson shrugged at him when he looked appealingly at her. There was nothing she could really say to him to make him feel better because under the circumstances, he was a likely suspect and it made sense to keep him away from the investigation, lest he was involved and could therefore tamper with evidence.

"Don't go anywhere," Holmes advised him as she and Watson let themselves out of the house.

* * *

"What do you think?" Holmes asked the moment they were in the car.

"He's hiding something," Watson replied. "I don't know if it's to do with the murder or something else, but he was cagey about something."

"Did you notice that he avoided saying what her name was," Holmes said. "And you know what that usually means."

"She has a husband or boyfriend."

"Or girlfriend. Is there any chance that Joey swings both ways?"

"As far as I know, she's a lesbian and has never been into guys."

"Mmmn," Holmes murmured thoughtfully. "So you don't think it's possible for them to be having an affair?"

"Who, Joey and Angelo?" Watson replied with a laugh. It had taken them some time to arrange and make an official statement to the press about the case before arriving at Angelo's, so Joey would have had plenty of time to come here from the station and get some, but she didn't buy it. "Nah, don't see that at all. What's next?"

"It's late, so we call it a day," Holmes answered. "Then tomorrow we start working on that list and looking at the evidence again with fresh eyes." She turned to her partner. "I know you stay with your father when you're normally in town, but while you're here for the case, I'd like you to stay at the hotel to maintain a sense of distance, so I booked us adjoining rooms at the Sands."

"That's fine, but you don't expect me to stay away from my dad completely, do you?"

"Of course not or from anyone else you know, it's just that you're going to have to watch what you say around them."

Watson nodded. "To the Sands then or do you want to stop somewhere to eat?"

"There's a restaurant at the hotel, isn't there?"

"Yeah."

"We might as well go there then."

* * *

_"The police have formally named Sgt Charlie Buckton as the unfortunate victim of this heinous crime and as yet, they have refused to comment on whether Joey Collins, the girlfriend of Sgt Buckton, is a suspect in her murder. Miss Collins was brought to the station earlier for questioning and was in the presence of the esteemed Morag Bellingham when she left. _

_We can only hope that the police make an imminent arrest so that we can rest easy in our beds. This is Belle Taylor, your voice of the Bay."_

* * *

Watson tied the belt of her robe as she strode from the bathroom. Dinner had been rather pleasant as they relaxed over a fine meal and drinks before retiring to their rooms. She'd spent some time talking to her father on the phone and though he was disappointed she wouldn't be staying with him, he certainly understood the position she was in. When there was a knock on the door that adjoined her room to Holmes, she grinned, having been half expecting this.

"Care for a nightcap?" Holmes asked as she and a bottle of wine entered her room. She poured a glass each and handed one to Watson who took a deep sip.

Holmes took the glass from her and set it aside on the table. "Since we've been asking for alibis from cops lately, where were you last night?"

Watson grinned. "In bed with you, or did you forget that?"

"It's my job to ask," Holmes said, returning her grin as she let her own robe slide to the floor and walked naked toward Watson.

"Now I know why you really wanted me on this case," she said, admiring the fine form in front of her.

"With your links here, you really were the best choice for the job, but," Holmes grinned even wider. "I have to admit that this is an added bonus," she said, pressing her lips to hers as her hands undid the belt and slid Watson's robe to the floor. Watson was as naked as Holmes had been beneath hers.

They'd been having sex for two months now, ever since a late night drinking session had led to more in the cramped toilets at the local cop pub they often frequented and while they were strictly professional to each other during work hours, to the point that she doubted anyone back home suspected they were more than just colleagues, when it came to being alone, they left rank and all hassles behind them and just enjoyed each other's company. Watson wasn't fooling herself; she knew this was little more than sex between two single and consenting adults who had little time to go out and date others and was hardly going to lead to a long lasting relationship, so she just enjoyed it for what it was; great sex with someone she admired.

Without breaking the kiss, Watson let herself be pushed backward until the edge of the bed hit behind her knees and then she was falling onto her back and Holmes was kneeling between her legs, which now rested over Holmes' shoulders.

"Oh fuck," she groaned when Holmes' tongue darted over her clit.

* * *

Joey curled up around the pillow on her bed. After Roo had taken her to the hospital where she'd had blood taken and her scratches looked at, all the while under the watchful stares of her work colleagues, Roo had wanted her to go home with her, but Joey had turned her down, needing the comfort of her own bed, despite the bitter loneliness than now came with it.

Her whole world had come crashing down and now her future might consist of a small confined space with bars to keep her prisoner. The tears came as everything threatened to crush her.

* * *

"Oh god, yes more," Watson panted as she thrust against Holmes' tongue and fingers as they drove her from climax to climax. "Yes!" she cried out one last time as her body spasmed in orgasm.

Holmes moved onto the bed beside her, looking rather pleased with herself. She was a reserved woman by nature and to a degree, so was Watson and while she didn't do relationships at all, when it came to her colleague, she took surprising delight in making her buck and scream for her and it made her feel connected to Watson in a way she'd never felt with anyone before. It wasn't love, but it was a nice feeling regardless.

Watson smiled as she rolled onto her side to face her. "We probably shouldn't be doing this while we're working on a case together."

"Yeah, I could tell the entire time you were begging for more that you were thinking just that," teased Holmes. "We've worked together before."

"Yeah, but this is the first case we've worked together on since we started sleeping with each other and it's a big case with all eyes on us."

"I wouldn't worry too much, Watson. As the senior officer, I'd be the one in the firing line should someone have a problem with us."

"You don't sound very worried."

"Because I'm not. Our sex life has no bearing on how we do our job and it's not like we flout it in everyone's faces, so I don't see how anyone could have a problem with it, even if they did somehow find out what we did behind closed doors."

"Well, if you're not worried, then," Watson moved over her. "I won't worry either." She leant down and kissed her soundly.

* * *

In a small, darkened room, a lonely figure that unconsciousness had claimed for some time before awakening to a completely new terror, cried in the darkness with a voice hoarse from screaming out for help.


	13. Chapter 13

The next morning, Watson sat in the hotel restaurant, sipping her extra strong coffee and grimacing at the bitterness. After Holmes had returned to her own room during the night, she'd sat up watching old crappy movies on TV because she couldn't sleep. She always had trouble sleeping her first night in an unfamiliar bed and she was used to functioning on little sleep during cases. Still, she wished she could forego the strong coffee to get her going on mornings like this but nothing else really worked.

"Don't know how you can drink that muck," Holmes' voice behind her made her jump and nearly spill her coffee.

"It's better than that stuff you drink," she fired back.

"Peppermint tea is good for you," Holmes replied as she took the seat opposite her.

"Shouldn't it taste like peppermint though?"

"It does, it's just your pallet has obviously been ruined by that diesel fuel you guzzle by the bucket load."

Even before they started sleeping together, their days tended to start like this, with a bit of relaxed banter, before they switched to professional mode and on mornings like this, Watson appreciated the lighter start to the day.

"I hear the pancakes are good here," Holmes said.

"Think I might need something more than that."

Holmes settled for the pancakes while Watson ended up ordering the mixed grill breakfast of bacon, eggs, sausages, tomato and onion. Their conversation during breakfast was casual as they avoided talking about the case until they'd finished eating and Watson was onto her second, slightly less strong, cup of coffee.

"I've been thinking over the drug angle," Holmes said as she sipped her tea. "Specifically drugs that can affect a person's memory or knock someone out. Rohypnol is one that comes to mind, but I'm wondering if there are drugs that hospitals use that could have a similar effect, ones which Joey would have easy access to as a nurse."

"We could stop by the hospital on the way to the station and ask Dr Walker."

Picking up something in Watson's tone, Holmes set her tea aside and studied her colleague and lover. "You still have doubts about Joey's guilt, don't you?"

"It's just this nagging feeling I can't seem to shake, but like you said, all we can do is stick to the evidence and see where it takes us."

"Look, I admit to having a bit of a hard on for Joey's guilt, based on the evidence, but that doesn't mean I'm not open to considering other suspects and we will treat all possibilities seriously, including Angelo and the list of people Buckton was responsible for putting behind bars."

Her words eased Watson's mind somewhat. She'd seen what happened when cops were stuck on one suspect and pursued it to the point they ignored other likely suspects and sometimes, because of it, an innocent person paid the price. She wasn't certain either way to Joey's guilt or innocence and so she wouldn't dismiss the possibility that Joey did do this nor would she dismiss the possibility that she was being set up, she just hoped Holmes did keep an open mind to it all.

* * *

"Detectives, how can I help you?" Sid said when he looked up from his desk and found them standing there.

"I was just wandering if the autopsy report is available?" asked Holmes. She knew it was, because Bellingham had a copy.

"I sent a copy to the station before I left work last night. I guess you must have already left by then."

"I guess so."

Sid opened a file on his computer. "I can print you out another copy right now, but there's nothing in it that we didn't discuss during the autopsy."

"No need to print another, we'll wait until we get the one at the station."

"Tox screen and analysis of the accelerant aren't in yet, so I'll send over an amendment to the report as soon as those results are in."

"I'd appreciate that and if possible, I'd like to receive it before Morag Bellingham does." She couldn't resist adding the last part and seeing the doctor flush.

"She asked and I saw no need to deny her request," he said somewhat forcefully.

"Next time though, please send it to us the moment it's available instead of waiting until you're leaving the hospital."

Sid bit down on his tart reply. "Fine. Now, if that is all, I'm a very busy man."

"Actually, there is something we'd like your expertise on," Holmes said.

"Of course." He waved his hand to the other chairs, inviting them to sit.

"Are there drugs that can affect a person's memory?" asked Holmes. "Particularly drugs you would use in the hospital?"

"Medication that we use for sedation can cause confusion, even impair memory as a side effect, and there are also medications used for blood pressure or psychiatric needs that can have a similar side effect, but not every patient experiences side effects and of those that do, it could be a different reaction of varying degrees for each one, so there's just no real way to know how a person will react to such medication, until they start to take it."

"Is there any way a person with knowledge of such drugs, could ensure that someone lost their memory, say, for an entire night?"

"If one were to give someone a large enough dose or a combination of drugs, then I suppose it could increase the chances of memory loss like that. Again though, there would be no certainty it would work on everyone."

"Can you check to see if there are any of those types of medications missing from the hospital stores and also sedatives?"

"Certainly." Sid sat back in his chair and stared at them. "Those medications are under lock and key with only hospital staff having access, so I guess this means you're still going after Joey as a suspect in Charlie's murder."

"We're looking into all avenues," Holmes answered evenly. "And as Joey is a nurse, with knowledge and access to drugs, we have to check in regards to that."

"In this day and age of the internet, it would be quite easy for someone to research the type of drugs they're after."

"True, but it's not so easy to then get the drugs."

"Rapists have little problem getting their date rape drugs and they're known to cause memory loss and with much more certainty than medications."

"Like I said, we are just looking into the hospital drug angle because of Joey's job here and we certainly won't rule out illegal drugs."

"Just so you know, Joey didn't seem to be feigning memory loss when she came to the hospital yesterday evening and I hardly expect her to have drugged herself."

"She came here?" Holmes said. That ruled out her being the woman with Angelo, as she wouldn't have had time to get from the station to the hospital and then to Angelo's bed, not that she really thought too seriously about that possibility, but now she could definitely rule it out.

"Yes and don't even bother asking, as I can't tell you the details because of patient confidentiality."

Holmes nodded as she got to her feet. "If you could have the medications checked as soon as possible, it would be greatly appreciated and I'd also like for you to keep everything we discuss in relation to the investigation to yourself."

"I know what is expected of me in my role as M.E., Detective and as a doctor, I'm not in the habit of discussing work with anyone outside of these walls."

"I didn't mean to suggest otherwise."

"Yeah, right," he muttered. He knew as soon as he'd released the report to Morag and Belle had named Charlie as the victim before the cops had made any such formal statement that it would come back on him. He'd spoken to his staff about keeping whatever they heard or saw in regards to the case to themselves, but he couldn't really stop them talking once they were outside work hours. "I don't have the time to conduct the audit into the medication myself, but I can tell the head nurse it's just a routine check, though I can't stop her from suspecting as to the real reason."

"I realise keeping a lid on things is difficult, especially in a small town, but just do your best."

"I always do. Now, I really am busy Detectives, so unless there is something else, I need to get back to work."

"That's all for now and we'll be waiting for those amendments to the report when the results are in," she added as a reminder.

* * *

_ "The community is still in shock that one of their own has died in such a heinous matter and the thought that a fellow local could be responsible for committing such horror is almost unthinkable._

_Miss Collins, a nurse at the local hospital, spent some time speaking to Homicide Detectives yesterday and a police source says evidence was found at the scene._

_Stay tuned for more information as it comes to hand._

_This is __Belle Taylor__, your voice of the Bay."_

* * *

"Where the fuck is this bitch getting her information," fumed Holmes as Watson drove them to the station. "And if I get my hands on this so-called source." She left the rest unsaid.

"It sounds like this Belle is going to be reporting on every step of the investigation, so perhaps we should avoid listening to the radio in order to protect your blood pressure."

Holmes glared at her before she relaxed and smiled wryly. "You might be right. I just hope we don't have a leak at the station."

"Press always have their way of getting information and not always directly from the source."

"I might put a rocket up the arses of the other coppers, just to ensure their silence though."

* * *

Joey's feet pounded the road. She had barely slept, her dreams filled with memories of her times with Charlie mixed with random images which she wasn't sure were memories or figments her depressed mind had dreamed up. It didn't matter, it all meant she had woken up tired, stressed and not at all looking forward to the day.

The house felt so empty and everywhere she looked, she was surrounded by reminders of Charlie, from photos to her favourite mug she always used. In the end, she just had to get away from it all and so had decided to stick to her routine of an early morning run, but as she approached her house, she wished she'd stayed indoors as she was forced to run the gauntlet of press now camped out on her front lawn.

"Joey, how do you feel?" One shouted out, while another wanted to know what she said to the cops.

"Did you kill her Joey?" another demanded to know.

"No comment," she said as she forced her way through and into her house. She slammed the door shut on their questions, her back against the door. She closed her eyes, trying to block out their voices as she slid down the door, drawing her knees to her chest.

* * *

As soon as the Detectives had left, Sid had sent a nurse to audit the medication supplies, telling her it was for a report for the pharmaceutical suppliers to see which drugs they used the most. He just hoped none were missing. A knock on his office door drew his attention.

"Sorry to interrupt Sid, but the Chief wants a word with you A.S.A.P.."

"Thanks Gloria." He stared at his phone. He suspected he wasn't going to like what the Chief had to say.

"He'd prefer to see you in person in his office."

He sighed and nodded, even more certain now he wasn't going to like it as the Chief rarely requested he come to his office unless it was something serious. "Mr Palmer needs his wounds redressed and call me the moment Mrs Spencer's blood tests are back," he told her as he grabbed his jacket and headed out.

"Will do, Sid." Gloria watched him leave. She liked Joey and thought she was a good nurse, so she hated to even consider that she could be involved in this but there were already rumours of evidence circulating and she knew Sid had asked for an audit on the medication right after the two Detectives had left.


	14. Chapter 14

Holmes strode into the station and stood in the middle of the reception area. "Ok, who the hell is speaking to the press about this case?" Holmes demanded of all the officers there. "Because it sounds like this voice of the Bay has a police source." She scanned each face, looking for any sign of guilt and was pleased to see no telltale giveaways.

"That's just Belle and her usual style of reporting," Jack said to her. "And I doubt she has a police source as no one here would tell her anything, especially when it involves one of our own."

The confident way he said that allayed her fears somewhat and she was starting to think that Watson was right, that the information might not have come directly from here, but she wasn't quite ready to let it drop just yet. "Did you hear her latest broadcast that mentioned Joey, a police source and evidence found?"

"Yeah, I heard that. Everyone knows by now that Joey was here yesterday speaking to you guys, and knowing Belle, she'd take that, along with Morag's presence, to mean that you had a reason to keep Joey here for as long as you did, so putting two and two together, Belle must have concluded that there was evidence of some kind."

"This Belle make a habit of doing that?"

"Unfortunately. We tend to be a bit tight lipped around her, but as annoying as she is, she's also fairly intuitive about what she reports on, even if she doesn't have all the facts before her, which is why she mentioned details but didn't actually link them together, like Joey speaking to the cops in the same sentence as telling her listeners that evidence had been found but never actually saying that the evidence linked Joey to the scene or what the evidence was."

Holmes replayed the broadcast in her head and realised he had a point. "You're right, she never actually linked them all together, but anyone hearing that broadcast could draw the conclusion that Joey was the fellow local and the evidence linked her to the scene, especially when yesterday she mentioned we'd refused to comment on whether Joey was a suspect or not."

He shrugged. "That's how Belle works. She avoids an outright accusation, yet says things in a way that people can draw the conclusion the way she wants them to."

"It certainly sounds like you're very familiar with her style of reporting."

"Belle is ambitious and wants a shot at a city gig, but it's kind of hard to get noticed here when so little happens, so when it does, she likes to draw attention in a big way."

"If she oversteps or compromises the investigation in any way, she really is going to wish she was anywhere but here and the same goes for every officer at this station," she said, her voice rising on the last few words. "If I ever find out that an officer has talked about this case to anyone not directly involved and especially to the press, then there will be hell to pay, starting with immediate suspension." Holmes stared at every officer present, until they all nodded their head in understanding. "Now, has anything new come in?"

"We're still waiting for the labs to get back," Jack told her. "And I've pulled the more detailed case files you wanted. They're in the office we've set aside for you."

"Thanks. Senior, could you come into the office, we'd like to discuss a few things."

"Certainly."

Watson caught Angelo glaring at them as they walked past. When he saw her watching, he went back to his work, pointedly ignoring her. She sighed. He did have a tendency to sulk when things didn't go his way and there was nothing she could do to get him reinstated onto the investigation, until they cleared him.

* * *

"Senior, I'm sure you're aware by now that I've removed Angelo from the investigation," Holmes said the moment the office door was closed and they were all seated.

"Yes." He was more than aware, because he'd had to listen to Angelo complain over drinks last night, then again first thing this morning. "Do you really think it's fair to have him removed though?" Jack asked.

"Tell me Senior, do you think it would be wise to let a potential suspect work anywhere near the case he was a suspect in?"

"I guess not, but kicking him off the case makes it look bad for him."

"I can't help how it looks," Holmes replied. "And for the time being, I want him to be kept well away from all parts of this investigation."

"I'll see to it."

"Do you know who Angelo is seeing at the moment?" Holmes asked him.

"As far as I know, since he broke up with his last girlfriend, he's not seeing anyone."

"Who was his girlfriend?"

"Oh, um," he tapped his fingers on his knee as he tried to recall. "Sorry," he shook his head. "I can't think of her name just now, but she left the Bay a few months back and Angelo hasn't mentioned anyone since, other than the odd one night stand with some random pick up from the nightclub, that is."

"What about the Sergeant, was there anything that stood out in the past week or so to indicate that she might have been having issues with someone or problems of any sort?"

"Nothing from what I could see," answered Jack. "If anything, Charlie seemed really settled and happy lately and as far as I know, things were good between her and Joey and other than the usual day-to-day work issues, she was really enjoying her work as well." He shrugged, "Like I said, Charlie seemed happy and not at all like someone who was having problems."

Holmes made a few notes before looking back up at Jack. "Ok, so where are we on alibis for the rest of the officers here?"

"All but three have alibis. Angelo you already know about, but there's also Constables Neil Stevenson and Lara Fitzgerald."

"Stevenson, he's the one who spoke to Brax that night, isn't he?" said Watson.

"That's right that happened just before midnight," he replied, slightly startled to hear from her. Holmes always seemed to take the lead, so Jack tended to forget about the more silent Watson until she spoke up.

"When did Stevenson's shift start?" Watson asked him.

"11 pm and he was still on duty when Charlie was found."

"Colleen Smart placed Joey with Buckton at around 9 pm, so that leaves a less than two hour window of opportunity for Stevenson and I'm assuming he didn't turn up to work smelling like smoke," Watson said.

He shook his head. "Hogan would have said something if Neil had smelt like smoke, especially after what we all saw out there yesterday morning."

"Did Stevenson say where he was before his shift started?"

"Alone at home, having a late dinner and getting ready for work."

Watson looked to Holmes. "It still doesn't leave him much time to commit the murder, get cleaned up and ready for work, then turn up on time."

"No it doesn't," agreed Holmes. "Does Stevenson have a motive to kill Buckton?" she asked Jack, who shifted slightly in his seat at the question. "What is it Senior?" demanded Holmes.

"It's just that Stevenson is fairly new to the station, barely here a month, so I don't know him all that well and he um, he kind of had a crush on Charlie, which we teased him about, but I can't see a crush leading to him killing her, because everyone made sure he knew he'd be wasting his time thinking anything could actually happen between them and he seemed to accept that. It was a schoolboy crush, nothing more."

Holmes ran her finger over her lips as she thought over things for a moment. "Though it's unlikely he had the time to commit the murder, we won't discount Stevenson just yet, because even obsession can start out as a simple schoolboy crush. Now, what about this Lara Fitzgerald?"

"I don't know of any reason for Fitzy to hurt Charlie as they were good friends, but she's the only other officer here who doesn't have an alibi. She had that day off and said she was out alone all day, but I kind of got a strong feeling that she was keeping something from me when I spoke to her about it."

"We'll have a word with her," Holmes said. "At the moment, we're looking into the possibility that drugs may have played a part in this case, so can you point us in the direction of anyone you know or suspect of being a dealer?" Holmes asked.

"We haven't had much of a drug problem in the Bay for awhile now, but once, I would have gone straight to Heath Braxton, except he's kept his nose clean for the past year or so." At least as far as they could prove, he added silently.

"Braxton, as in?"

"Brax's little brother and unlike Brax, Heath wasn't real big on leaving the gang life behind and so we've picked him up a few times for low-level drug offences over the years, but nothing recently."

"By your tone, I'm guessing you're not a fan of his?"

"Brax is a mate, but his brother is an irresponsible jerk who never finished school, got three different women pregnant before he was even 21, is always late with child support and pretty much sponges off his brother."

"Any other dealers?"

"Like I said, it hasn't been much of a problem lately, but in the past, for anything drug related, Robert Cruze would have been the second door after Heath's I went knocking on. Robbo is an old buddy of Heath's until they had a falling out some time back."

"He's a first rate sleaze," muttered Watson.

"You know this Robbo guy?" Holmes asked her.

"Unfortunately when I was here visiting dad a few years back, I had the displeasure of Robbo making a pass at me, along with being on the receiving end of some rather crude remarks on how he could cure me of lesbianism."

"Yep, that sounds like Robbo," Jack said. "A bigoted wanker who has no idea how to treat a woman. He's just gotten back to the Bay after doing time for raping his girlfriend."

"I didn't know he'd gone down for rape," Watson said. She shuddered inwardly as she realised how differently that night all those years ago could have ended up if he had been determined to make good on those remarks he'd made toward her.

"It happened just after your last visit."

"Shit, the judge might as well have just sent him to his room if that was how short his sentence was," muttered Watson.

"He wouldn't have happened to have used a date rape drug by any chance?" asked Holmes.

Jack nodded. "That's why the jury didn't buy it being consensual, because rohypnol was found in Tanya's blood."

That meant he knew how to get his hands on it for himself or for someone else, Holmes thought to herself. "Was Buckton involved in the rape case?" she asked.

"She was the arresting officer."

"I didn't see Robbo's name amongst the files we have for Buckton," Watson pointed out.

"I guess in the short time that she had, Morag wasn't able to get a complete list, because there were a few cases not listed, but I included them with all the other case files I put on your desk."

Both Watson and Holmes stared at the rather imposing stack of files before them.

"This Robbo, you think he's capable of killing a cop or a woman?"

"Yes," both Watson and Jack replied without hesitation.

"Robbo doesn't have much in the way of a conscience," Jack explained, "And despite all the evidence against him, he still swears he raped no one and the cops had it in for him."

"Sounds like a possible motive to me," murmured Holmes. "Where can we find Robbo and Heath?"

"Heath's probably banging some guy in a public toilet somewhere and just look under the slimiest rock to find Robbo."

"Hang on a moment, I thought Heath got three kids on different women."

"He did, but if it has a pulse, he's happy to fuck it, whether male or female, though these days, he prefers the guys, in particularly, guys in public toilets. Try the ones in the park or by the diner for Heath and Robbo will be somewhere by the wharf."

"Well, I think it's time we had a word with these men," Holmes stated as she got to her feet, Jack and Watson quickly following.

Their suspect list was growing, as were the unanswered questions, Watson thought as she walked after Holmes.

* * *

Joey tried to ignore the whispers as she walked by her colleagues along the hospital corridors, though she couldn't help but pick up the snatches about drugs and scratches. She rubbed her arms self-consciously. She was in no mood to work, but the thought of staying home alone with all those memories and with that mob continuously shouting questions through the door, was downright depressing and so she was hoping that work would prove somewhat of a distraction and since the press showed no sign of leaving anytime soon, she'd been forced to sneak out a side window and leave via the neighbour's backyard.

Joey nearly bumped straight into Sid when she rounded the corner on her way to the locker room.

"Ah Joey, just the person I wanted to see."

Joey immediately noticed the way he couldn't meet her eyes. "I get the feeling I'm not going to enjoy seeing you though."

Sid's smile faulted. "Why don't we go and talk in my office?"

With a heavy sigh and sensing things were about to get worse, Joey nodded and then slowly trailed after him.


	15. Chapter 15

Holmes screwed up her nose as they stepped from the car. "Figures a guy like Robbo would hang out at a place that smells like this."

"It's only fish," Watson said, breathing in deep. She loved the sea air and didn't even mind the current smell, because even with the fishy odour, it still smelt so much fresher than where she lived back home in the city.

"Yeah, but it's not just the smell, it's the ick factor."

Watson chuckled. Her colleague wasn't a person who she ever expected to hear say 'ick'.

"I mean, everything looks so slimy here," Holmes continued on.

"The sliminess is definitely where Robbo fits right in," Watson said.

"And," she pointed to a pile to their left. "I don't even want to know what that is."

"That's fish heads and also what comes out of the fish."

Holmes looked a little green. "I think I'm going to steer clear of fish and chips for the time being," she muttered. "Do you see Robbo anywhere?"

Watson scanned the area, her eyes coming to rest on a lone figure. "That's him at the end of the wharf."

"Oh great, we have to get closer to the stench," complained Holmes.

"We could always ask Robbo to bathe first," quipped Watson.

* * *

Robbo smirked as he watched the two detectives walk toward him. "My, my, it's the Mayor's daughter all grown up and looking even more fuckable."

For the second time in as many minutes, Holmes screwed her nose up in distaste as she eyed the man in front of them. She decided that his grubby and unkempt appearance was a perfect match to his personality.

"For a convicted rapist, that's really not the best way to talk to a woman, especially a cop," Watson pointed out.

"I didn't rape anybody."

"The court disagreed."

"Only because that slut was a convincing liar."

"Nice way to speak about your girlfriend," Watson said.

"Ex and she was a dud root anyway."

Holmes briefly considered doing the world a favour by shooting the guy.

"That's probably because of the rohypnol you dosed her with," Watson said. "Used any rohypnol lately?" she asked.

"I don't need to drug women, they can't get enough of me as it is."

Watson rolled her eyes. She doubted that Robbo would ever change, he'd still be the same, egocentric, arrogant, bigoted jerk when he was finally put into a coffin. "Blood tests proved Tanya was drugged, so now, where did you get the rohypnol?"

"I told you, I don't need drugs to get laid."

"You've been linked to drugs in the past," Watson started before Robbo interrupted her.

"Past being the main word. I haven't had anything to do with drugs in ages."

"Except for roofying your girlfriend."

Robbo's eyes flashed dangerously. "I don't have anything to do with drugs," he repeated through gritted teeth.

"You know of anyone around town who's happy to supply drugs to anyone who's looking?" Watson asked, changing tact slightly when she realised Robbo would continue to deny things.

Robbo shook his head and grinned. "They're not the kind of people I hang out with," he said. Watson was pretty certain now that he not only hung out with such people, he was using or dealing himself. "Now, I have somewhere else to be, so I'm leaving, unless of course you require my special services while you're lonely and in town," he said suggestively.

"Sorry, but I'd rather avoid the need for a tetanus shot," Holmes said in a tone dripping with sweetness and she smirked at the anger in his eyes. "Where were you between 9pm and 4am on the day Sgt Buckton was murdered?"

"Getting a blow job and root from Watson," he snickered and made a few crude gestures to go along with it.

"Maybe you'd like for us to arrest you for hindering a police investigation," Holmes said.

"Yeah, that'd be right, typical bloody cops, making up charges to hassle innocent people," he sneered at her.

"Have it in for cops, do you?" taunted Holmes.

It suddenly dawned on Robbo that pissing off cops when one of them had just been murdered wasn't the brightest idea. "Nah, I have the utmost respect for the boys," he grinned. "And girls, in blue."

"Gee, with sincerity like that, I'm surprised you didn't have the jury eating out of your hand," Holmes said sarcastically. "Now, answer the question, where were you when Buckton was killed?"

"I was doing an overnighter on the trawler," he said. "And you can ask the skipper if you don't believe me."

"Oh don't worry, we will be checking with him."

"Can I go now?"

"For the moment," Holmes said. "But somehow, I get the feeling you and the police will be having a steady relationship in coming times with that attitude of yours."

"Fuck you bitch," he muttered as he stalked away.

"I'm kind of hoping his skipper won't back up his alibi just so we can get that scumbag off the streets," murmured Holmes.

"Don't you find that the fish are looking far more attractive now?" joked Watson.

"Definitely," she agreed. "Let's go check with his skipper so we can get away from here though."

* * *

Joey was surprised when she returned home to find an empty lawn, well almost empty. She was nearly suffocated when Roo rushed over and engulfed her in a big hug. "Where have you been?" asked Roo. "We were worried sick about you Joey."

"I went to work."

"Joey, I'm sure the hospital didn't expect you to work today after the recent tragedy in your life."

"I wanted to work though."

"As a distraction to losing Charlie or to get away from the mob that was camping out on your lawn?"

"Both. Where did they all go?"

Roo grinned. "I sicked Morag onto them."

Joey had a soft chuckle and had no trouble at all in picturing Morag scaring off that bunch of vultures. "Thanks for that Morag."

"If you ever need my services for animal control again, I'm only a phone call away."

Roo stood back and put her hands on Joey's shoulders. "How are you doing?"

"I'm getting by, but now that I've been suspended from the hospital, it's going to be more difficult to take my mind off things." Sid had been so apologetic as he told her about the suspension and had objected strongly to the board's decision, but it was out of his hands and so now, she was effectively out of a job.

"You were suspended?" Morag said.

"Yeah."

"On what grounds?"

"The hospital board was worried about the negative press associated to having a nurse under suspicion for murder, especially when the detectives asked for an audit on the medication supplies."

"Surely they can't suspend you when you haven't even been charged?" Roo said in outrage. "I mean, whatever happened to innocent until proven guilty?"

"The hospital cannot suspend an employee without legitimate cause," replied Morag. "And talking to the police is not a legitimate cause and even if Joey had been charged, they'd still have to follow normal procedures before suspending her, which would require Joey being given the opportunity to argue her case with me by her side."

"Then we fight this decision," asserted Roo.

"No," Joey said in a small voice.

"Why not?"

"I don't have the energy to fight them and the police at the same time," she admitted.

"You can't let them win Joey," said Roo.

"They already have, because I just can't deal with it right now." Joey sighed heavily. "All I want to do, is to go inside and curl up on the bed."

"Why don't you come home with me instead Joey, because you really shouldn't be here alone at a time like this."

She shook her head. "I need familiarity around me and now that I don't have work, home is all I have."

"I could stay with you until Pippa and Sally return home."

Joey smiled at her. "Thanks for the offer Roo, but I can't have you putting your life on hold for me."

"I'd just feel a lot better if you weren't alone."

"If I need anything, I'll call."

"I guess I can't change your mind, but just be sure to call, whatever the hour, if you need me."

"I promise." Joey turned to Morag. "Was there something you needed to talk to me about?"

"I spoke to Rachel Armstrong earlier and she can see you tomorrow." She handed Joey a business card with the address and appointment time. "I know you're hesitant to remember what happened that night, but Rachel can also help you deal with your loss, so I strongly recommend you go Joey."

"I can accompany you, if you'd like?" offered Roo.

Joey nodded. She knew that if she didn't have someone by her side, she'd just find a way to avoid seeing this Rachel woman. "Would you like to come inside for a cup of tea or coffee?"

"Only if you let me make it."

"You're intent on smothering me, aren't you?" she said lightly.

"If need be. Joey, you really don't have to go through this alone and so I'm not going to let up."

"Fair enough."

* * *

Watson yawned. They'd been going over the files on Charlie's cases since they'd returned to the station over five hours ago after confirming Robbo's alibi and speaking to Heath, who had pleaded absolute innocence in regards to drugs. They'd been left with the same feeling they'd had after speaking with Robbo, so upon returning to the station, they'd advised Jack to keep an eye on Robbo and Heath as they suspected both men were still mixed up with drugs in some capacity.

"Ok, thanks for letting us know." Holmes set the handset down onto the cradle. "That was the prosecutor assigned to look over the case while we investigate. Morag Bellingham tried to get the evidence we took from Joey's house suppressed on the grounds that we obtained it without a warrant."

"I figured she'd follow through with that."

"Yeah well, because the shoes had been in plain sight, the magistrate ruled we did have cause to search for more evidence, but by doing this, Bellingham is letting us know she's going to challenge us every step of the way and she may even come out on top at times, so we really are going to need to be sure of our evidence."

"Well Sid had been right that the autopsy report showed nothing that hadn't already been discussed during the initial examination and we're not getting very far with these case files at the moment," Watson said.

"Maybe when the rest of the labs are back, we'll have more to work with and also more of an idea of where to start looking." She still suspected the evidence would lead to their most likely suspect, Joey, but until the results were in, they had to keep looking at all other possibilities.

They both looked up when there was a knock on the door. "Detectives, can I have a word?"

"Certainly," replied Holmes. "It's Const. Fitzgerald, isn't it?" The constable had been out on patrol all day, so they hadn't yet had a chance to speak to her about her lack of an alibi.

"Yes." She fidgeted nervously in front of them.

"What is it Constable?" she asked when Fitzy remained silent.

She drew in a deep breath. "I realised that when I spoke to Jack that I may have made myself look guilty with the way I answered when he asked me for my alibi," Fitzy rushed through her words before pausing and drawing in another deep breath. "The truth is, I wasn't alone like I told him I was."

"Were you with someone you shouldn't be with?" guessed Watson.

"It's more like my girlfriend is still very much in the closet and I didn't want to out her by telling Jack who I was with."

"We will need her name and if we can confirm your alibi, then there won't be any need for anyone outside of this office to know about her," Watson assured her.

Fitzy breathed a sigh of relief. "I was with Bianca Scott, she's a teacher at the High School. We met up after I left work at 6pm and I spent the entire night with her until I started work the next day."

"Like I said, no one needs to know about the two of you if she alibis you."

"I should have told the truth when Jack asked me, except Bianca isn't ready for anyone in town to know she's a lesbian just yet."

"I'm just glad you were able to clear this up," Watson said.

After leaving them Bianca's contact details, Fitzy left them alone.

"Ok, chances are, Bianca Scott will alibi Fitzgerald, which will be another suspect off the list, along with Robbo," stated Holmes.

"Well Martha confirmed Jack's alibi and all other officers except Angelo and Stevenson are accounted for, though there has to be some doubt as to whether Stevenson would have had the time to kill Buckton and we still have Joey without an alibi."

"Don't forget Heath Braxton. He had no solid alibi."

"Or a motive to kill her," Watson pointed out.

"Ok, maybe it's because I'm finding the Braxton men arrogant shits, but he does have a connection to our victim through his brother, who we know has had a hard time letting his ex-fiancé go and right now, we should consider anyone who had close contact with Buckton a possible suspect until we know otherwise. Then there's also the possible drug link with Heath. If drugs were involved, they had to come from somewhere."

"We've ruled out the hospital since Dr Walker called to say all drugs there were accounted for, which leaves us with the likes of Robbo and Heath or one of their buddies," Watson said. "Or we could be on the wrong track altogether and there is no drug connection with our case."

"Unless we find evidence that can help us to rule drugs out completely, then we can't dismiss the possibility that drugs were involved in some way to the case." Holmes looked at the stack of files strewn across their desks. There were still plenty to go through and so there were still plenty of potential suspects they might have to consider. She rubbed her eyes, feeling weary after another long day at work. "I say we look through a few more files each and then call it a day."


	16. Chapter 16

Holmes and Watson had spent another two hours going over files before finally calling it a day. Holmes had headed back to the hotel while Watson was meeting her father for tea but the moment she set one foot into the Club, Watson was wishing she'd joined Holmes at the hotel when she was forced to take a quick dive out of the way to avoid being knocked over by Jack, who had been roughly shoved backward by Stevenson.

"You bastard," shouted Stevenson, "You didn't have to tell them at all."

"Calm down Neil," Jack said, keeping his voice even and temper in check to avoid making even more of a scene. "They would have found out eventually, so it's best if we're all up front and honest about everything."

"Yeah, right," Stevenson replied snidely. "You just love sucking up to the higher ranks like a regular boy scout."

"If you want to make it in the Force, you're going to have to check that attitude of yours," he said. "And stop doing things that make you look like an unruly school boy."

Stevenson glanced around at the audience they'd obtained, which now he realised, included one of the Detectives. "Shit," he muttered. He flashed a grin at Jack. "You're right, I've been acting like an idiot, so how about I say I'm sorry and I buy you a drink?"

"Maybe another time," Jack said. "I'm supposed to be meeting Martha." Jack nodded at Watson when he saw her as he walked out of the Club.

"Not the kind of entertainment Alf usually likes here," Angelo said from Watson's side.

"You're talking to me now?"

He shrugged sheepishly. "Yeah, I'm sorry about the cold shoulder earlier," he said. "I get why I was taken off the investigation, but I was just so pissed at the time and in my usual way, I took it out on others, so I'm sorry."

Watson nodded, accepting his apology. "I take it Stevenson wasn't too happy with Jack telling us about his little crush on Buckton," she said.

"You could say that," murmured Angelo. Unfortunately, Stevenson kind of reminded him of himself and he didn't like how immature and bratty it made him seem. He also realised that if he wanted to be taken seriously as a cop and prove to the woman he wanted that he was worth taking a risk with, then Angelo knew he'd have to really start stepping up and showing he was capable of becoming a better person and one who could be relied on.

Watson looked over at Stevenson, whose lingering anger at Jack was still obvious, despite the jovial façade he was showing to his friends. While she continued to doubt that Stevenson would have had the time to have killed Charlie, after that little display of his, she decided it wouldn't hurt to keep a closer eye on him, because as Holmes had said, obsession can start out as a simple schoolboy crush and Stevenson had shown he had a bit of a temper problem and a lack of judgement. Even out of uniform, it was a dumb move to have a go at any other officer for something that happened at work, especially when it was a superior officer.

"Georgie." Angelo was one of the few who called her that. "While I'm apologising for being an idiot earlier, I'd also like to say I'm sorry for being such a prick back at the Academy. It was just that finding out you were with a woman only weeks after we broke up, it kind of bruised my ego at a time when I wasn't in a good place. That was no excuse of course, but all that shit I said and did, I never meant it and I don't have a problem with you being gay," he said. "In truth, I think we were always better as friends and just weren't meant to be lovers," Angelo continued on.

"Could have fooled me with the way you carried on back then."

"Like I said, my ego was bruised and I wasn't used to being dumped." He looked at her. "Did you dump me because you started to realise you weren't into guys?" he asked the question he should have asked back then but had been too angry to do so at the time.

"I had never really dated much, so I had nothing to compare us to, only I kept hearing how wonderful it was all supposed to be, yet I never really enjoyed the sex side of things with any guy I'd been with and I started to realise there was something missing. It was nothing to do with you," she told him. "It was me. I think deep down, I'd always known why, I just hadn't been willing to accept it and put my crushes on my female teachers in high school down to admiration and nothing more."

"But I was the one who finally made you realise you preferred the ladies," he murmured.

"It wasn't like that. My whole life was changing, I mean, school was over, I was training to be a cop and a whole new world was opening up for me," Watson explained. "And I decided the time was right to be honest with myself. I still wasn't entirely sure that I was gay though, not until I met Janice a week after we split, but at the time, I knew it was unfair to be with you when I felt something was missing and I couldn't fully commit to us."

"Then a few weeks later, you came out and instead of being a friend, like we'd agreed to be after we broke up, I behaved like a right prick, calling you every name in the book and generally making your life hell."

"The piece of carpet you sent was a rather nice touch."

Angelo winced.

"Along with the note about it being for my tea."

"Oh god, I'd forgotten about that."

"Carpet for a carpet muncher, bon appétit," Watson reminded him.

Angelo flushed. "Definitely not my finest moment."

"I hope you never thought I deliberately led you on, because if I'd known for certain I was gay, I never would have gone out with you Angelo, it's just that when we started spending all that time together at the Academy, I decided to just go with the flow," she said.

"I know you're not the type to use someone, so how about we just let the past stay in the past and go back to being the friends we were before the Academy," he suggested.

"I'd like that, except I'm kind of in an awkward spot right now."

"Ah right, I'm a suspect and you can't really be seen being too friendly with me."

Watson shrugged. "I wish things could be different, but I need to keep things professional during the investigation."

"Look I get it, I don't like it, but I do get it," he said with a wry smile. "So I guess tea is out of the question?"

"Yes it is," a voice said from behind him.

"Jesus Harvey," Angelo said as he spun around to face him.

"Sorry Angelo, but my daughter already has dinner arrangements with her old man."

Harvey Ryan had never been his biggest fan, even before Angelo dated his daughter, but ever since word had gotten back to Harvey about what had happened at the Academy, he'd been rather cold toward him, not that Angelo could blame him. No father liked to see their daughter treated like that. "Then I think I might get takeaway instead," Angelo said. "I'll see you later Georgie."

"Bye." Watson smiled at her dad and stepped forward to hug him. "Hey dad."

"Hey baby girl. I wish you were here under better circumstances," he said as he stepped back.

"So do I."

"Well, despite the circumstances, I'm proud of you. This is a big case, a real career maker for a young Detective."

"Provided we don't fuck it up," she replied and winced. Even now, she got embarrassed about swearing in front of her father.

"I've heard good things about that Holmes partner of yours and I know how capable you are, so I have no doubt that you won't fuck it up."

"Thanks dad. Hey, I saw Roo yesterday."

"Yeah, she's been back about a month now."

"Must have been kind of weird to see her after all this time."'

Harvey regarded her with a knowing smile. "The answers to the questions I know you're dying to ask are, no, Tim didn't come with her, they split years ago and no, I'm not seeing her again, nor do I intend to."

"Don't take this the wrong way, but I'm kind of glad you're not, especially as she's become Joey's advocate," Watson said. "It just would have made things all the more harder for me working on the case, that's if I'd be kept on it under those circumstances."

"I know that as my daughter, you're in a somewhat difficult spot with the locals, but I don't want you to worry about me in all of this. Just do your job and I'll deal with anyone who has a problem with my little girl."

"Dad, please don't call me that," she said. "I'm a grown woman now."

"You're still my little girl though."

"So is Lottie, yet you don't call her that, even though she's younger than me. Seriously dad, I'm a Detective here on a murder investigation and I'd like people to see me as that and not as the mayor's little girl."

"Fair enough," he agreed amiably. "How is your mother?"

"She's great."

"Still off gallivanting around the countryside?"

"Pretty much,' Watson replied. "Last I heard from her, she was in the Alice." Her mother's nomadic lifestyle was one of the reasons she'd never married her dad, along with both of them being too young at the time to even think of settling down to family life, but the lifestyle had made getting to know her father difficult as she was often too far away from him to visit. It wasn't until she'd turned eight that her mother settled down in the same State long enough for her to be able to stay with her dad during the school holidays. "I saw Lottie the other week and she said she'd been to see you recently."

Harvey nodded. "It was only for a day, but it's a start." His split from Mel, Lottie's mother had been far from amicable and she'd done a good job of turning his daughter against him, so he'd been surprised when his youngest daughter had turned up out of the blue on his doorstep. Surprised, but delighted, especially as it seemed Lottie wanted to rebuild their relationship.

"Lottie has a good head on her shoulders and I'm sure she's starting to realise that you didn't abandon her like Mel made out you did," Watson told him.

"I hope so. Now, how about we grab a table and get something to eat."

"Definitely, because I'm starving."

* * *

Joey stirred her hot chocolate. Morag had called earlier to let her know that she'd found out that no drugs were missing from the hospital. While she was relieved that was one less thing to worry about, she was still suspended and she suspected the Detectives would still be trying to find out if she got drugs from somewhere else. Morag had again asked if she'd like to challenge the suspension, but she'd said no. She had enough on her plate without adding more to it and her mind was now fixed on meeting that Armstrong woman tomorrow. The idea of remembering scared her, but she was getting sick of all the doubts she had about herself, so in a way, she did want to find out what happened that night, however bad it might be.

She walked with her hot drink into the lounge and plonked onto the couch. Sipping her chocolate, she tried to relax. What she wouldn't give for some time where she could grieve properly for Charlie but things kept conspiring against her. Thankfully though, the press hadn't returned and she had to wonder at what Morag had said them, but at least she had some silence at home now.

A knock on the door had her smiling ruefully. "Guess I spoke too soon," she murmured as she set her cup aside and strode to the door. Still wary of the press, she glanced through the window first, her eyes widening in surprise when she saw who was standing there.


	17. Chapter 17

Joey swung the door open, still not quite believing who was there. "Ruby!"

"I don't care what the cops think, I know you didn't kill my sister," the young girl said bluntly as she threw her arms around Joey.

Fighting back tears, Joey hugged her tight.

* * *

Some fifteen minutes and quite a few tears later, Joey and Ruby were settled on the couch.

"I miss her so much Joey."

"So do I." Joey reached over and took Ruby's hands in hers. "I'm so sorry this has happened Ruby."

"It's not your fault," Ruby murmured.

"Ruby, how much have you been told?"

"I ran into Roo before I came here, so I know all about your memory loss and those lame-arse detectives thinking you're guilty."

"What if I am though?" Joey said in a barely whispered murmur. "I can't remember for a reason."

"Joey, you are one of the kindest people I've ever met and even if Charlie had been worse than Hannibal Lector, there is no way you could hurt so much as a hair on her head, let alone be capable of doing what the real monster did to her."

Maybe it was hearing that absolute certainty coming from Charlie's own sister, Joey wasn't sure, but for the first time since she'd learned about Charlie's death, she found herself believing in her own innocence. "It's probably selfish to say this at a time like this, but thank you Ruby, for believing in me."

"It's what Charlie would want."

* * *

Her second night in the Bay had proven more restful for Watson as she made her way down to the hotel lobby with a spring in her step.

"You're Det. Watson, aren't you?" a young woman said as she stepped in front of Watson and blocked her path.

"Yes," she replied warily. The woman was vaguely familiar to her and the calculating look in her eyes had her suspecting who she was.

"I'm Belle Taylor," Belle said, smiling large and sticking out her hand in greeting.

Watson shook it, her suspicion confirmed. Now that she had a name for the face, Watson recognised her as another she'd seen around the Bay during her trips but had never actually met and this was one meeting she'd been hoping to avoid. "The voice of the Bay, right?"

"That's me," Belle said with an air of pride. "And my listeners are anxiously awaiting updates on the investigation, so would you care to comment?"

"Miss Taylor."

"Please," she said, placing her hand on Watson's forearm. "Call me Belle."

It was pretty obvious to Watson that Belle knew she was gay and thought she could seduce the information she wanted out of her. "Belle," Watson said, playing along by returning Belle's flirty tone. "I'm sorry, but your listeners will just have to wait for the updates along with everyone else."

Belle stepped in closer to her. "Not even a little titbit for me," she murmured. Watson refused to back away, even as Belle all but rubbed against her like a dog in heat. Belle was an attractive woman and any other time, she'd be flattered by such interest, except she knew the only interest Belle had in her was in whatever information she believed she could seduce from her. "I could really make it worth your while," purred Belle.

"Are you really that desperate to get one up on the rest of the press that you'd prostitute yourself like this or do you just have so little respect for yourself," Watson said.

Watson's words had been spoken softly, but Belle stepped back as if she'd been slapped. "You're a bitch," seethed Belle.

"No, I'm just a professional," Watson fired back. "You should try being one yourself sometimes."

Belle bit down on her tart response and took a moment before speaking. "You know, this case has upset a lot of people and it's gotten them scared about a killer who roasted a woman most of us were friends with and respected, so all I'm trying to do is ease those fears by keeping them up-to-date about the investigation."

"Perhaps if you hadn't tried to hump my leg, I may have bought into that little speech of yours," Watson said. "But I've seen plenty of reporters like you and it's all about breaking the news first, not because you're doing a public service, but because you're after the glory and the recognition and you don't care who you have to screw or step over to get there."

"My, my, the Mayor's daughter has some bite after all," Belle said snidely. "You know, it's not a good idea to get the press offside, especially when you're practically a stranger in a small town where my voice is known in every home."

Her threat was clear; play nice or she'd use her program to make trouble for them but Watson was having none of that. "You know, it's not a good idea to get the investigating officers offside," Watson returned with the same tone as Belle had used. "Especially in such a big case in which information will be like nuggets of gold to the press, at least, it will be to those we choose to invite to our press conferences."

Realising she'd taken things a little too far, Belle put on her most conciliatory face. "I'm sorry for overstepping, Detective," she said. "I appear to have let my zeal get the better of me."

Watson didn't believe for one second that Belle was sorry, but she was hungry and wanted this over with. "I suggest you taper that zeal, because it will get you nowhere with us, except on our _no comment_ list."

"Noted," Belle said, her mind already wondering if she'd have better luck with Holmes, but then deciding she wouldn't when she caught sight of the other Detective watching them from the sidelines. The look she was sending her way had Belle shivering.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, there is a grilled breakfast with my name on it." Without waiting for a reply from Belle, Watson walked away. "You could have said something earlier," she muttered as Holmes joined her in the walk to the hotel restaurant.

"You were doing just fine by yourself," Holmes told her. "I had a feeling it would be just a matter of time before our intrepid reporter made a direct approach, though," she smirked. "I didn't expect it to be quite so direct."

"I feel like I need to be disinfected," Watson complained.

Holmes chuckled. "Come on, I'll buy you brekkie."

* * *

After breakfast, Watson filled Holmes in on the altercation between Stevenson and Jack as they made their way to the car.

"Stevenson does seem to have a bit of a temper," Holmes murmured thoughtfully once Watson had finished. "And with him crushing on Buckton, it does make him a more credible suspect, but there's still the problem of his window of opportunity or lack thereof."

"It always comes back to that," Watson said with a sigh. "It's too bad we couldn't get a more accurate time of death so we could either discount Stevenson for good or not."

"That would help immensely, but we were lucky that Dr Walker was able to narrow it down as much as he did, considering the state of the body."

"I hate it when things fuck up the T.O.D," Watson muttered.

"Yeah, fire is effective in not just destroying evidence on the body, but also disguising the exact time of death which gives the defence a lot of room to manoeuvre with," Holmes said. "Gee doctor, can you be absolutely certain about that time when the body was so badly burnt?" she said in a very good impersonation of Morag's voice.

"So do we take a closer look at Stevenson or not?" Watson asked.

"Holden said he'd been at the station a month or so, wasn't it?"

"That's right."

"Then I doubt many here can tell us a whole lot about him, but I do think Stevenson does deserve looking at more closely."

"I'll make some enquiries with the station he did his probationary period with and also with the Academy, see what others thought of him and if there were any unwelcome advances made toward other officers or encounters like last night with Jack."

"And while you're doing that, I'll work through more of those files," Holmes said as they reached the car.

Before she hopped into the car, Watson scowled when she saw that Belle was still hanging around, just a little further down the road, but then she noticed the man that Belle was talking to. "Damn, it's him again," she said softly.

Holmes followed her line of sight. The man was young, blonde, good looking and didn't seem to mind having Belle practically hanging off the front of him. "You know that man?"

"Never met him, but last night while I was having dinner with dad, he could barely take his eyes off me."


	18. Chapter 18

"Maybe he just has excellent taste in women," Holmes joked.

"I wish it was just that, but there was something disconcerting about the way he was looking at me," Watson replied. "I ended up asking dad who he was."

"So who is he?"

"His name is Aden something or rather. Apparently he's a writer and came to the Bay a couple of months ago for a quiet place to write but that's all dad knew, other than he was trying to get an interview with my dad about something."

"It's not exactly a quiet place right now," Holmes murmured. She trusted her partner's instincts and her own interest in him was piqued even more when she saw how Aden had positioned himself so that he could pay attention to them over Belle's shoulder while making it seem he only had eyes for Belle. "Curious," she thought.

* * *

As they had driven away, Watson had felt Aden's eyes on them the whole time and she was still feeling uncomfortable from Belle's blatant seduction attempt, so the moment they walked into the station, she sought Jack out.

"Jack, do you know anything about that writer guy, Aden something?"

"A little. His name is Aden Jeffries, he arrived a couple months back and has ruffled a few feathers because he likes to ask a lot of questions and is always hanging around." Jack regarded her. "Why do you want to know about him?"

"It's just that he was watching me last night, then again this morning."

"Yeah, that's what he does. Actually, it was the way he watched people and took notes that had Charlie and me bringing him in for questioning over a recent spate of burgs that started just after he arrived."

"Since he's still roaming around, then I take it wasn't him."

"Nah, it was a couple of locals who decided stealing was easier than getting off their lazy arses and working."

"What is your take on him?"

"He seems a decent enough guy," Jack said. "He comes across as charming, friendly and even after we'd dragged him in for questioning, he didn't hold a grudge." He shrugged. "Everyone seems to love him, especially the ladies."

"Did you know about him and Belle?" Watson asked him.

He shook his head. "It doesn't surprise me though. Both are young and free and there's not exactly an oversupply of single guys in town, so a man like Aden is rather a catch."

"You said it was Buckton and you who brought him in for questioning?" Holmes said.

"Can you please call her Charlie?" he asked in a slightly pleading voice. "It just feels so impersonal when you call her Buckton. She was a friend and colleague and I'd rather remember her like that than like that," he stopped. He'd been about to say 'like that thing', because what had been left didn't seem very human. He took a deep breath and continued. "I'd like to remember her as the woman she was and not just another victim and I'm sure everyone around here would appreciate a bit more courtesy by calling her Charlie and not the victim or Buckton."

Holmes nodded. Usually she liked to keep it impersonal as it helped to deal with the situation and do her job without distraction, but Jack was right, this time it was a colleague and as she needed these people onside, she'd do as he asked. "So Charlie questioned him with you, but do you know if she knew Aden outside of work?"

"As far as I know, the only time they met was when we brought Aden in for questioning. Is he a suspect in her death or something?"

"He seemed rather curious about Watson and as we're looking into anyone who had a connection to Charlie that could also hold a grudge against her, then we can't just dismiss him as a potential suspect," replied Holmes.

"Like I said before though, Aden didn't hold a grudge and understood why we spoke to him. Look, I wouldn't worry too much about Aden. I checked him out just to make sure he was on the up and his editor confirmed that when he's working on a new book, Aden likes to talk to a lot of people and also observe them and take notes," he told them. "And now that I think about it, I'm not surprised he's watching you, because both of you are, after all, the topic of conversation in town, along with the murder."

Watson hated the thought of being anyone's topic of conversation but she always knew that would be the case when she was assigned to the investigation.

"Ok, thanks for that Senior," Holmes said, clearly dismissing him.

When they walked into their office, Holmes turned to her partner. "So Watson, since we now know Aden was brought in for questioning and that gives him a link to Charlie, do you think we should consider him as a legitimate suspect or not?" Holmes asked.

Watson thought it over, then shrugged. "I honestly don't know."

"He really did make you feel uneasy last night, didn't he?"

"I felt like he was trying to look into my soul it was that intense."

"Then I think that definitely deserves a visit from us," Holmes said.

* * *

It had been quite late by the time she and Ruby had stopped talking the previous night but Joey had still been surprised when Ruby had asked to spend the night. With Ruby, she'd finally been able to start to grieve and realise how lonely she was, but she admitted none of that to Ruby when she offered her the spare room. While Ruby's little pep talk had also helped her with her own doubts, they still lingered, sometimes taking over and other times taking a back seat, but they were still there nonetheless. She was meeting with the counsellor later and she really was hoping that she could help her remember. Good or bad, she needed to know what happened that night and her role in it, especially when Ruby seemed so sure she was innocent.

Joey glanced at the young girl walking by her side, hoping that Ruby's faith in her wasn't misplaced.

As they neared the diner, Joey's nerves took over. "Ruby, I don't think this is a good idea."

"Nonsense," she said. "All we're doing is going to the diner for some brekkie, just like everybody else is doing."

"I really don't think this is a good idea," Joey murmured when all activity and talk stopped the moment they walked into the diner.

"Joey, I want to show everyone that I believe in you, just like Charlie would want me to," Ruby said. She hooked her arm through Joey's and led her toward the counter. "Besides, it's late morning and I'm starving and we can't go now anyway, because Roo is coming here to pick you up."

"What can I get you two?" Leah asked in a genial voice and with a smile on her face, though she couldn't stop her eyes from darting back and forth between them.

"Coffee, white with one and some French toast for me," Ruby said, returning Leah's smile. "What about you Joey?"

"I'll have the same," Joey murmured, feeling incredibly self-conscious about being the centre of attention.

"There's a table free over there," Leah said. To Joey's relief, the table was a booth to the side where they could at least get some privacy. "I'll bring your coffee right over."

"Thanks Leah," Ruby said. Linking her arm through Joey's again, they headed over to the booth.

* * *

"Good morning ladies," Aden greeted them brightly when he opened the door to his caravan. "What can I do for two such fine officers or should I just give you my alibi for the Sergeant's time of death now?" He said with a big grin. "That is why you're here, isn't it?"

Holmes smiled wryly. "You don't seem surprised to see us."

"You're investigating a murder, I'm a stranger who had recent contact with the victim and I can't see any other reason for you to be on my doorstep."

"How about why you were staring at me last night?" Watson chimed in.

"What, a guy can't look at a beautiful lady," he replied smoothly, winking at Watson.

Rather than being flattered, Watson felt even more uncomfortable. "There's a difference between looking on in appreciation and looking on in a creeping out kind of way."

"I'm sorry if I made you feel like that," he said. "As part of my work, I like to study people, their body language, mannerism and such and sometimes I forget that I'm staring at an actual person instead of an object and my intensity can come across in the wrong way."

It sounded plausible, thought Watson. "Why do you want an interview with my father?"

"There's a mayor in my new story and I want to get a good idea of the type of person who becomes mayor and the reasons why they want the job, so that I can make my mayor as realistic as possible."

Again, it sounded plausible.

"What was your alibi, by the way?" asked Holmes.

"I don't have an alibi, unless you call sitting in my caravan alone writing an alibi."

"Not really."

"I had no reason to harm the Sergeant."

"Even though she accused you of a crime you didn't commit?"

"I was new in town, snooping around, writing down things about people, so I could see why the cops may have thought I was scoping out potential victims, especially as the burgs started not long after I got here."

"Burgs?" Holmes said. "That's not how most people refer to burglaries, except for cops and the like."

"I'm a writer of suspense novels, so I tend to use terminology I've picked up during my research and writing."

He seemed to have a plausible answer for everything, thought Watson.

"Look, I can't prove that I didn't hurt the Sergeant because I have no alibi, but if I was pissed off at anyone for being dragged in and questioned, it would have been at Jack and not the Sergeant. He was the one who did most of the talking and I'm pretty sure it was his suggestion that I be brought in."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because he didn't like it when he found me talking to his wife."

"Is that so," murmured Holmes.

"Yeah," Aden said. "He comes across as the jealous type and I think he lets it cloud his judgement just a little at times."

"I thought you said you understood why you were taken in for questioning," Holmes said.

"I do, but I think it also had a bit to do with him wanting to get back at me for talking to his lovely wife."

"Well thanks for your time," Holmes said, cutting things short. "We'll be going now."

"Hey," he called out when they started to walk away. "Am I still a suspect?"

Holmes shrugged and left him guessing.

"Did you believe any of that?" Holmes said as they continued down the path to where they'd parked the car.

"Definitely not the part about Jack being jealous," Watson answered. "Because Jack didn't sound at all jealous when he was telling us Aden wasn't a likely suspect and after speaking to Aden, I'd say that Jack was wrong about him not holding a grudge."

"I thought the same, except it does seem more likely his grudge was against Jack and not Charlie."

Watson stopped and looked back over her shoulder. "I'm still not sure what to make of him though," she admitted. "It feels like he's hiding something more, but as to whether it's related to our investigation or something else, I don't know."

"He did seem rather smooth with his answers, but like you, I'm not sure if it's about the case or something completely unrelated."

When they reached the car, Holmes glanced at her watch. "Why don't we go and pick up some food at the diner to have while we pour over the rest of those files?"

"The food sounds good, the files not so much," Watson said as she hopped into the car.

* * *

The moment they had taken their seats, talk had resumed amongst the other customers and aside from the odd glance she felt their way as they ate their food, they were pretty much left alone, though Joey suspected it was more out of respect for Ruby than anything else. Joey looked across the table at her young companion. She was a little worried about Ruby, because she appeared to be handling things a little too well right at this moment.

Her thoughts were interrupted when a dark shadow fell on the table.

"Murderers aren't welcome here," an angry voice said.


	19. Chapter 19

"You heard me," Brax said. "Murderers aren't welcome here, so get out."

"She's not a murderer," Ruby said, getting to her feet and standing toe-to-toe with him. "And if she goes, I go," Ruby emphatically stated.

"What the hell are you playing at Ruby?" he demanded. "That bitch killed your sister."

"I don't believe that for a second, because I know Joey would never hurt Charlie," argued Ruby. "Unlike you."

"What do you mean, unlike like me?" he snarled.

"You know, not being able to keep it in your pants and screwing her best friend and god knows how many others," she said, loud enough for everyone in the diner to hear.

"That's different," Brax replied through gritted teeth.

"Of course it's different, because it's always different when it's the great Darryl Braxton who does something."

Brax knew she was challenging and goading him, but now that they had an attentive audience, he could hardly tell her to shut up because all the pity would be on her side, even though he also lost someone special to him. "Ruby, you shouldn't be around that woman," he said in a far more accommodating tone. "I mean, what would your sister say if she could see you hanging around with the woman who killed her?"

"Unlike most of this town who are quick to judge and convict, Charlie never would have doubted Joey's innocence in the first place, because she always knew Joey was a good person, incapable of deliberately harming another person, especially someone she loved."

"The cops think differently."

"The cops are fucking idiots and so are you for believing the same," she snapped. "You're the one who hurt my sister Brax, by screwing her best friend and I don't care what the cops say, because I know that Joey could never have hurt my sister." She glared around the diner. "You get that, Joey is innocent which means my sister's killer is still out there." That drew some nervous murmuring from the others. "Anyway, if the cops are so confident it is Joey, why hasn't she been charged?" Ruby challenged Brax.

"It's only a matter of time until they do."

"Oh, do you know something the rest of us don't?" she mockingly asked him.

"Of course not."

"Then why are you so sure Joey is guilty?"

"They took her to the station, so they must know more than we do."

"For all we know, they were talking to Joey about my sister just because they were dating," Ruby said. "Just like they spoke to you because of your history with Charlie," she added pointedly. Ruby knew exactly why the cops dragged Joey to the station, but she wasn't about to tell that to Brax or anyone else. Let them start to have doubts, she thought, because too many of them were too quick to judge, not that it surprised her, it was always like that around here. "So if you think that speaking to the cops makes Joey guilty, then I guess you must be guilty also and same goes for anyone else they speak to." Ruby shook her head in disgust at him and those listening in. "Of course the cops are going to speak to people who knew my sister but it doesn't automatically make them guilty and so people shouldn't be throwing unfounded accusations around. There is such a thing as innocent until proven guilty, after all."

"Well," Brax folded his arms across his broad chest. "Somebody killed Charlie and it wasn't me."

"And I don't believe it was Joey."

"I do."

"That's your problem and it's just like you, always looking to blame others."

"You can't know for sure that Joey is innocent Ruby, so for your own safety, you need to stay away from her."

"Rubbish."

"Listen Ruby," he said angrily.

Leah chose that moment to interrupt. "Brax, leave them be."

"I want Joey out of here Leah," he stated furiously.

"She's with Ruby and you're causing a scene," Leah responded. "And Joey hasn't been arrested, nor has she caused any problems and so if Ruby wants her here, then that's up to her."

"Well I don't want her here," he said. "So she needs to leave."

"This is my place Brax and I say who stays and who goes."

Brax stared at her. He hadn't liked the way she'd all but closed up shop in the sex department since this had all happened and he certainly didn't like her defying him so publically.

Ruby took a moment to look at Joey who was staring silently at the plate in front of her, wishing she was invisible right now.

"Is there a problem here?" an authoritative voice enquired.

They all turned to find the two Detectives standing there, watching the scene intently.

"Not at all," replied Leah. "Brax was just leaving."

"I am n," he stopped himself. "Fine, I'll see you later." With a last, venomous glare at Joey, he stormed out of the diner.

"Can I get you anything Detectives?" Leah politely asked them.

"We'll order in a minute, after we've had a few words with Miss Buckton," Holmes answered. She'd been surprised when Watson had told her that the young woman with their suspect was the victim's sister; it was hardly the way she expected to meet her but she had to admire her for the way she stood up to Brax and despite the huge difference in size, she hadn't backed down. "If she has no objection to speaking to us, that is."

Ruby nodded her consent. "I'd like Joey to stay with me though."

"I'm sorry, but under the circumstances, that wouldn't be appropriate," Watson said. She kept her voice low enough so that only those at the table would hear.

"Ridiculous," snapped Ruby.

"Ruby, it's ok," Joey said. "Talk to the Detectives and I'll go wait outside for Roo."

"I'm going to be staying at Irene's, so call me later."

"I will." With just a nod to the Detectives, Joey walked toward the exit, picking up conversations along the way.

"Ruby is Charlie's sister, so if she's with Joey, then maybe the cops have it wrong," one customer said.

"Well, they haven't charged her or anything and we have no idea why Joey was at the police station," another said.

"If it's not her, then Charlie's killer must still be out there," said another.

Hearing those comments made Joey feel a little better as had Ruby's defence of her. She only wished Charlie was around to have seen it; she'd have been proud of her little sister.

Having heard the same comments Joey had, Watson rolled her eyes. She and Holmes had caught most of the argument between Brax and Ruby and now, hearing those few mutterings, it always amazed her how quickly people jumped on and off the bandwagon in matters like this.

"Brax is a jerk," Ruby said as Watson and Holmes took their seats.

"He's not the most charming of fellows," Watson agreed.

"You're Harvey's kid, aren't you?" asked Ruby. "Everyone calls you Watson, right?"

Holmes smiled at calling Watson a kid and seeing the way Ruby focused on her, she decided to let Watson take the lead on this one.

"Yeah."

"Guess this isn't the way you wanted to come back here," murmured Ruby.

"Nor for you," Watson said gently. "I know this is a difficult time Ruby, but is there anything you can tell us about your sister that might help us?"

"Like what?"

"Did she ever talk about anything that was worrying her?"

"No. I wasn't around much because I was away at school, but she never mentioned having a problem and I could tell just over the phone when we spoke, that my sister was very happy these days," she told them. "She really loved Joey and her career was going great, she was a Sergeant at such a young age, everything was going well for her."

"Did she ever talk about Brax?"

"Occasionally," she replied. "What he and Leah did really hurt her and she was still holding a grudge against the both of them, not that I blame her."

"Then she never considered returning to him?"

"She never said anything to me about it and once she got back with Joey, I couldn't see her leaving her and going back to him."

"That's not what Brax told us. He said that they were working things out and were having an affair."

Ruby shook her head furiously. "No way, not after what he did. Maybe one day in the future, I could see Charlie becoming friends with him and Leah again because they've known each other a long time, but it would never be more than that with Brax and if Brax is saying differently, then he's talking out of his arse." She looked from one detective to the other. "Joey's great and of all the people who my sister has dated, I think Joey has been the best for her."

"In what way?"

"Charlie always seemed so settled and relaxed when she was with Joey." She shrugged. "Don't get me wrong, in his own way, I know Brax loved Charlie, but he is one of those guys who find it impossible to keep it in his pants whenever a good looking woman walks past and it made Charlie nervous. She hoped he'd be faithful to her, but as hurt as she was to find him with her best friend, she wasn't really surprised. That's just Brax, using people, and always wanting things his way and when he wants it," Ruby said. "He really doesn't like anyone who doesn't jump when he tells them to, which I guess is why he's been doing Leah," she said with distaste. "Leah is a nice lady and all, but when it comes to Brax, she would do anything for him and stroke his ego just the way Brax likes it, at least that's what I always thought about her until I saw her stick up for us today." She sighed heavily. "Look, I know you're just doing your job, but I know in my heart that Joey is innocent."

"Then for your sake, I hope the investigation proves that, but Ruby, someone did murder your sister and there's every chance it will be someone you know, so you need to prepare yourself for that."

"God, I can't believe this is happening," she said with a quavering voice.

"I'm sorry this has happened Ruby and I know it won't bring your sister back, but I promise you, we will catch the person who did this."

Ruby nodded. "Thank you."

"I think that's all for the moment, but if you need to speak to us, here are our numbers," Watson said, handing over their business cards.

"Just so you know, I won't be sticking around after the funeral," Ruby said. She didn't see the point in staying now that her sister was gone and there were too many memories here for her to handle.

"As long as you leave a contact number, that's fine. If you don't mind me asking, when is the funeral going to be?"

"In three days and it's going to be a private funeral. I know people probably expected a police funeral with all the trimmings, but I just want the people there who loved her and cared for her, and not a bunch of strangers who only had the uniform in common."

"I understand," Watson said with a warm smile. "But do you object to Holmes and I being there?"

"To spy on us?"

"In a way," Watson said. "It's possible the killer could be amongst the mourners and watching reactions can tell us a lot."

"Ok, you can be there." She hoped the killer wasn't going to be there though, because despite Watson telling her she should prepare for it, she really didn't want to believe that the person who took her sister away from her, was someone she knew and who she thought had cared for Charlie. For that person to then turn up to her funeral so they could offer false sympathies, well, that would be too much for her to bear. She suddenly needed some fresh air. "Can I go now?"

"Of course."

"Poor kid," Holmes murmured after Ruby had left. "I'm not sure if it's all hit her fully just yet."

Watson nodded in agreement. "I just hope someone is there for her when it does hit her."

"Same here." Holmes looked around the diner. "Let's order and get out of here," she said. "I'm starting to feel like everyone's eyes are boring right through me."

"Better get used to it," Watson told her. "Because with her little display earlier, Ruby's got them all thinking and now in some eyes, we'll end up the bad guys if we go after Joey." Unfortunately, some people wouldn't care that she and Holmes were just doing their jobs, because by going after someone they knew, it pitted them against them and it could make for uncomfortable moments.

"That's the mayor's daughter," someone whispered.

"Wonder what he thinks of her going after one of us."

Yep, uncomfortable moments, Watson thought but as much as she didn't like this side of policing, it came with the territory. Only this time, she just hoped none of it came back on her dad, especially since the council elections were in a few months time.


	20. Chapter 20

_"Today, the town farewells a beloved local when Sgt Charlotte Buckton is laid to rest. Sgt Buckton's life was cruelly cut short by a sadistic killer who has yet to be brought to justice."_

Watson rolled her eyes at how thick Belle was laying it on. Since their encounter, Belle had been critical of the lack of progress with the investigation, but no more than the rest of the media, so she at least seemed to be heading her advice about not pissing off the investigating officers.

_"Join us today, in giving our thoughts to Sgt Buckton's loved ones at this sad time. __This is Belle Taylor, your voice of the Bay."_

Watson reached over and turned the radio off.

"The voice of the Bay always sounds so much better when she's switched off," joked Holmes.

Chuckling, Watson closed the file in front of her and Holmes did the same.

"I don't think we're going to get anywhere with these files," Holmes admitted. "There's only four that stand out and none of them really strike me as the barbequing type."

"Well, it was a long shot that we'd find the killer through the files."

"It is possible he is here," she said, pointing to the files. "It's just that we need more to go on than what is written in black and white."

"So where to from here?"

"We run checks on those four of interest just to be sure," replied Holmes. "And hopefully when the rest of the lab reports finally come in, they'll provide us with some new leads."

Which will most likely point us back to Joey, were the unspoken words Watson suspected Holmes of having. Admittedly, with the evidence they already had, Joey remained their main suspect and so Holmes had every right to believe she was our killer, but Watson still wasn't convinced. Maybe she was letting Ruby's staunch defence of their suspect get to her. Since they'd spoken to Ruby the other day, she'd been going around town, telling everyone she saw that Joey was innocent and as a result, she and Holmes were getting more than the odd unfriendly glare from people.

Watson sat back in her seat. It was all starting to get to her a bit. This town had never felt like home before as she was more the casual visitor than a local, but this was the first time she had actually felt unwelcome at times. She had spoken to her father about the whispers going around town and people's reactions to her and how it may start to affect his chances with the upcoming council elections, but again, he'd told her not to worry about it. With his smooth talking ways and charm, he was probably right not to worry. If only she had his talent for getting people onside, it might make this all so much easier, thought Watson.

She watched as Holmes picked up the stack of files and moved them to cabinet they'd had brought in. While the files weren't providing them with much to go on, there had been a couple of developments in the past few days. Jack had been furious when she had spoken to him about Aden's intimations that he was jealous and out to get back at Aden for talking to Martha. Jack trusted his wife and was used to her talking to lots of guys since she worked in a bar, but he did have a tendency to resent anyone who suggested there might be more going on. No one heard what else had been said between the two men when Jack later confronted Aden, only that after a heated discussion, Jack let fly with his fists. Going by the hint of a smirk she had seen on Aden's bloodied lip, she suspected Jack's reaction was exactly what Aden had been hoping for and confirmed her suspicion that he had held a grudge over being dragged to the station. Watson was still a little doubtful though, that Aden's grudge also translated into brutally murdering a police officer, but when it came to Aden, she was willing to keep an open mind, especially as there were times when she still caught him watching her.

Immediately after the incident, Aden had pressed assault charges against Jack and though he hasn't been suspended, Holmes had been forced to remove Jack from their investigation, which meant they were now three officers down; Jack and also Angelo and Stevenson because of their status as potential suspects and even though there was still doubt over whether Stevenson would have had the time to commit the murder and then get to work on time, just like Aden, he had given Watson a reason to be wary of him. When she'd taken a closer look at him, she had discovered that Stevenson had been involved in a few skirmishes with other officers at both the Academy and his previous station, with one in particular catching her attention. While at the Academy, Stevenson had made a pass at a cadet and was quite forceful with it, only stopping when the cadet had pushed him away and another cadet arrived on the scene before anything more could happen. Usually, such behaviour would see the expulsion of the offending cadet, yet the incident had been put down to youthful zeal and too much alcohol and he'd only received a reprimand. A little more digging had revealed that Stevenson's stepfather was an instructor at the Academy, which would explain why he was given what amounted to little more than a slap on the wrist for such a serious infraction. She didn't give a damn who his step daddy was, she intended to keep a close eye on him and if he slipped up in the slightest, she would pounce and she'd make sure he ended up with more than just a reprimand.

"Come on Watson," Holmes said, interrupting her thoughts. "I want to be at the church before the other mourners start to arrive."

Watson got to her feet and put her jacket on. She wasn't really looking forward to the next hour or so, because funerals were right up there with autopsies as her least favourite part of being a copper.

* * *

She lay on the bonnet of his car, panting heavily in the aftermath of her climax while Angelo continued to thrust into her. The bonnet was cold against her bare legs and her bum and though it was day, the heavy foliage of the bush they'd parked in was dark and made for an eerie setting.

"We need to be getting ready for the funeral," she gasped as she felt the stirrings of another climax building. She'd woken that morning wound tighter than she'd ever been and when her husband had asked Angelo to pick her up and take her to the Church because he was running late, they'd found themselves here, both seeking a release of their pent up emotions.

"Oh yes, close," Angelo moaned and thrust harder one more time as they both came together.

She pushed him off her, slid off the car, pulled her dress down and looked around for her knickers while Angelo tidied himself up.

"It's going to be weird seeing Joey with Ruby since the Dees still like her for the murder," Angelo said.

"If Ruby's confident of Joey's innocence, that's enough for me."

"I wish I could find it that easy, but too often I've seen what people are capable of doing to their loved ones."

"I don't know how anyone could hurt someone they love," she said, feeling rather hypocritical since that was exactly what she was doing to her husband with this affair. She tried not to flinch when Angelo put his arms around her from behind.

"God I love you," he murmured, pressing his lips to her shoulder.

"Don't say that Angelo."

"Why not, it's true."

"Well, I don't love you."

"You feel something for me."

"As a friend."

"Do you let all your friends fuck you like I do?"

"Angelo, stop it."

"Admit it, we're more than just friends," he persisted, rubbing his hand in a circle over her stomach. She closed her eyes.

"Admit it, we're more than just friends," he said again.

He was right, but what she felt for him paled into comparison to what she felt for her husband and it was in that moment, she knew what she had to do. "It doesn't matter what I feel for you Angelo, because I'm already married to the man I love."

"It matters to me," he said. "Because if he wasn't around, you'd be married to me."

"But I am with him and that is never going to change." She moved away from Angelo.

"It might if he found out about us," Angelo stated.

She stared at him in horror as the implication of what he meant hit her. "You wouldn't dare!"

"Try me."

"Go ahead," she replied, calling his bluff. "He won't believe you."

"Of course he will," he said smugly. "I'm his mate."

"Some mate you are."

"And some wife you are," retorted Angelo.

"This isn't the time or place for this," she said. "We need to be going or we'll be late for the funeral."

"Fine, but this isn't the end of this," he declared.

She climbed into the passenger seat and slammed the car door shut. She needed to end this and do it in a way that wouldn't cost her, her marriage.

Angelo paused at the car door and glanced around. He felt like they were being watched, which was stupid; this place was deserted and had excellent cover from the road, which was why he'd chosen it. Shrugging off the uneasy feeling, he hopped into the car beside her.

* * *

The drive to the Church was completed in relative silence, with Joey and Ruby offering their support to each other by holding hands in the backseat, while Roo drove.

After nearly bailing on her first visit to Rachel Armstrong - and she probably would have if Roo hadn't been there with her - Joey had now seen Rachel twice. So far, she'd had no luck on the memory front but even with the blood test she had done at the hospital coming back negative to the presence of alcohol or drugs, Rachel believed her memory loss was the result of drugs rather than her forcing herself to forget because of something she might have done or seen. There was no way she'd ever buy drugs and as Morag later pointed out, the murder was premeditated, so those drugs would have needed to have been purchased in advance so as to have them at the ready, which meant if she had been the buyer, she would have a memory of it, yet she didn't. Knowing she hadn't bought any drugs offered only a small comfort though, because it meant someone else had drugged her, which was a terrifying thought and even more terrifying when she considered that the scratches to her arms had to have come from somewhere and if not Charlie, then it was most likely the killer who had gotten close enough to drug her and scratch her.

Despite still not being able to remember, talking to Rachel had still been beneficial to her in other ways. It had been painful, but surprisingly easy to open up to her about her feelings and it had allowed the floodgates to open and she had spent a lot of time crying and letting her grief out, both alone and with Ruby, who had finally let her incredible loss sink in. As painful as it was to talk about, she was grateful that she was starting to feel more than just numbness now and with Ruby, Roo and Morag believing in her and with Rachel's help, Joey was finding it easier to believe in herself.

As the car made its way into the church grounds, Joey turned to Ruby. "We'll get through this together," she told her.

Ruby nodded and squeezed Joey's hand tighter for support.

* * *

Watson glanced at her partner when Joey walked into the Church with Ruby at her side and wasn't at all surprised to see the look of displeasure on Holmes' face at the sight of their suspect with the victim's sister. She had to hand it to Ruby though, the girl was loyal, she just hoped she wasn't loyal to a fault and didn't end up regretting her support for Joey.

She gave a nod of greeting to her father when he walked in next.

"Shit," Holmes muttered when the next figure staggered in.

"What is she doing here?" Brax bellowed and his voice echoed throughout the Church.

"Joey is here with me," Ruby said.

"I don't want my fiancée's killer standing by her grave."

"Ex-fiancée," Ruby reminded him. "And right now, I don't really want you here." She glared up at him with her righteous anger, "How dare you turn up to Charlie's funeral drunk and cause a scene."

"I loved her," he slurred.

"Then show Charlie the respect she deserves," Joey said from Ruby's side.

"Fuck off bitch," Brax snapped. Even in his intoxicated state, he moved surprising quickly and before anyone knew what was going on, he had grabbed hold of Joey's arms.

"Let her go Brax," yelled Ruby.

"Get out of here you murdering bitch," Brax shouted and shoved Joey so hard that she fell backwards and would have ended up in a heap on the ground if not for the strong arms that caught her.

Joey was shocked at the little thrill she felt at the contact, even more shocked when she realised whose arms she had fallen in to. "Thanks," she murmured and hurriedly put some distance between her and Watson. Right at that moment, she felt more unnerved by Watson's presence than she did by Brax's.

Holmes stepped in front of Brax when he looked ready to come at Joey again. "I suggest you leave before I arrest you," she stated firmly.

"I'm not going anywhere."

"Brax," Harvey said, putting his hand on his shoulder. "You're upsetting Ruby."

Brax closed his eyes and swayed. "I'm sorry."

"Come on mate, let's go get some fresh air," Harvey said, leading Brax away.

Joey put her arm across the visibly upset Ruby. "Just forget about him," she told her.

"Gladly."

* * *

The Church service had been a sombre occasion and Watson was glad it had been relatively short before they headed over to the cemetery.

"Do you think the killer is here?" Watson whispered to Holmes as they stood apart from the rest of the mourners gathered around the graveside.

Holmes scanned the people there, her eyes lingering on Joey for a moment and then continuing on. "There's a good chance he or she is," she whispered back.

Watson thought everyone looked suitably distraught, so if Charlie's killer was there, then they were doing an excellent job with their acting.

* * *

As she stood by her husband's side, his hand in hers, she could feel Angelo's eyes boring into her and it made her nauseous and scared. She was really starting to get worried that Angelo would risk a confession to her husband in the hope it would end her marriage so that they could then finally be together.

"It's ok baby," her husband said to her and kissed her cheek. "It's nearly over."

She caught Angelo's eyes and the fervent desire she saw staring back at her told her it was far from over.

* * *

From this position, the watcher could see all those present at the graveside. It was so pleasing to see that everyone was reacting just as planned and were now playing the roles they had been assigned without even realising it. The game was afoot, the watcher thought with a silent chuckle.

* * *

Ruby hugged Joey tightly when they finally moved away from the graveside. "I can't stay any longer."

"I understand," Joey said. "And if you ever need to talk, just call me," she told her.

"I will and don't let those idiot cops blame you for this," Ruby said loud enough for the two Detectives to hear.

"I like her," Holmes said to Watson. "She's got spirit that one."

"That she does," agreed Watson.

"Are you ready to go Joey?" Roo asked as they watched Ruby leave with Morag.

Joey nodded and turned, her eyes catching Watson's. For a cop investigating her for murder, she had such kind eyes, Joey thought before shaking that thought off. "Please take me home Roo."

"Of course."

* * *

"Somebody please help me!" she shouted with a hoarse voice. Her hands were sore and bloodied from banging on the door so often.

She jumped back when she heard the lock from the other side of the door. The windowless room made it hard for her to know how long she'd been trapped here, but she gathered her captor visited her daily, so she judged it to be about six days or so since she was abducted.

"You better let me out of here," she demanded with a false bravado as the masked figure walked into the room and seeing the familiar knife in the gloved hand, she stepped back even further into her prison. The mask was terrifying enough even without the knife; it was a ghostly, skeletal looking thing, with the mouth stitched shut and black, soulless eyes hiding her captor's face from her and for the first time since she had woken in this hellhole, a voice came from behind the mask.

"There's no point in shouting for help," it said and she shivered; the voice wasn't human at all. "Because no one is coming for you."

"They will find me."

"No they won't," and she could hear the humour in that electronic voice. "They all think you're dead, Charlie."

* * *

_Next chapter, the case swings against Joey again._


	21. Chapter 21

"I don't believe you," Charlie said, but her voice wavered. "I have people who love me and they will never stop looking for me."

"Yes you do have people who love you, but those people are now grieving your untimely demise," the masked figure said. It really was horrible, Charlie thought, just how soulless the voice sounded from behind the mask. "I was even at your funeral earlier, so you see, there will be no one coming for you." With that, the masked figure laughed and left the room, the sound of the door locking sending a stab of pain through Charlie's heart.

"It has to be a lie," she murmured to herself but without conviction. It terrified her to think she'd never be found and knowing her loved-ones were grieving her supposed death only added to the despair she was already feeling. Charlie fell to the ground in defeat, tears streaming down her face. "How did this happen," she sobbed into the darkness. The last thing she remembered was visiting Joey and the next thing she knew, she had woken up here, in this darkened little room that was likely to become her final resting place. "Oh god, somebody please help me."

* * *

Since returning to the station after the funeral, Watson had spent her time going over all the photos from the investigation so far, including those of the crime scene and what they'd taken of Joey and as she went through them, there was something tugging at the back of her mind that she couldn't quite put her finger on.

"About bloody time these reports came in," Holmes said, interrupting Watson's train of thought as she passed Watson a copy of the reports. "You'd think that with a cop dead, they would have put a rush on the labs," she muttered.

"They probably wanted to be as thorough as possible so as not to miss anything."

"Yeah, you're right, but I hated the waiting."

"They don't really tell us anything we didn't already know or suspect," Watson said after both she and Holmes had read the reports.

"It does confirm that it was a burn mark on Joey's shoes and given the shoes also match the type and size of print found at the murder scene, we should have enough now for us to get a full search warrant on Joey's place to look for anything we might have missed during our earlier cursory search."

Watson looked at another of the reports. "Nothing was found on the clothes from the washing machine, but no real surprise there considering the amount of bleach that was used."

"And the tox screen on Charlie is negative," Holmes murmured. "But then Dr Walker did say during the autopsy that any drugs would have likely have left her system by then." She flipped to another page. "DNA on the necklace is Joey's."

"Was it really necessary to get the DNA, because Joey had already admitted that it was her necklace?"

"Like I told them, I was just covering the bases and it would be rather embarrassing if it turned out to be someone else's blood." Not that she ever expected that to be the case, still, she didn't want to give Morag the slightest reason to cast doubt on anything. "And it will help us with getting the search warrant."

"So Joey's back to being our number one suspect?"

* * *

Joey let herself into the house. She'd turned down Roo's offer of a meal, preferring a little solitude after a hugely emotional day. She did miss having Ruby around though, but she couldn't blame her for wanting to be as far away from the Bay as she could get.

Taking a beer from the fridge, she headed to the bathroom to start running the bath. A good long soak sounded wonderful right then.

* * *

"She never really stopped being number one," Holmes replied. "I'm not discounting our other potential suspects, but the evidence we have so far, like the shoes and necklace, places Joey at the scene."

"Shoes like hers but not necessarily hers," Watson pointed out.

"What, are you the defence now?"

"No, I'm just looking at this from Morag's perspective and she has already given a viable excuse for the footprints being at the scene when we first interviewed Joey and it's going to be hard to prove the necklace came off during the murder and not earlier in the day like Morag has already suggested."

"True and I'm sure Bellingham is going to have very logical explanations for every piece of evidence we find, but with confirmation of the burn mark and smoky odour on the shoes and the fact Joey couldn't even explain how her shoes got into that state, then that should help the prosecutor counter any of Bellingham's claims," Holmes said. "Plus, if there is enough evidence stacked against Joey, then that will also make it harder for the defence to counter."

Watson glanced at another report. "No other evidence was found in the car, but it's been confirmed that the fire started on our victim and that it was extinguished before it could spread too far."

"Do they know what type of extinguisher was used?"

"The type you'd usually have around the home and that can be found in a lot of stores."

"Check the shops, see who has purchased extinguishers in the past couple of months." Holmes shrugged, "Maybe we'll get lucky and there won't be many to follow up on."

Watson nodded and made another note, before turning back to the pages in front of her. "The accelerant used was petrol you'd get from any petrol station."

"Damn." The smoke and chemicals from the extinguisher had masked the odour on the charred remains during the autopsy somewhat, but Holmes had been hoping for something less common than everyday petrol because it would have helped to narrow down the search for the source. Unfortunately, petrol tended to be the most common form of accelerant used in arsons because it was so assessable, same with the extinguisher used. "Why can't a murder be exotic so as to make it easier for us to prove only one or two people could have had access to the tools used?" she complained lightly.

Watson smiled briefly.

"Oh well," Holmes said, getting to her feet. "I think it's time to get that warrant for Joey's place and while we're there, we check to see if she has a fire extinguisher."

* * *

Sipping her beer, Joey relaxed in the water. It had been the worst week of her life and she doubted things would be getting any easier as long as the investigation was on going, but she was determined to not let it overtake her life, especially when she was in her own home. She still couldn't be bothered fighting for her job just yet as she didn't think she'd be able to cope with the continued whispers behind her back and constant attention, but she wanted everything else to return to normal.

"It will never be completely like normal though," she thought sadly, because Charlie was gone forever. Joey took a long slug of her beer and closed her eyes. Charlie had been the love of her life and she doubted she'd ever get over losing her. Unbidden, a new image of strong arms and kind eyes popped into her head and she shook it furiously from her mind, resenting the intrusion. "I miss Charlie and I'm lonely, that's all it is," she told herself and desperately hoped that was all it was, because that image was the last person she should be thinking of. Only problem was, she needed to cooperate with the police and so she couldn't avoid her. She had a brief thought that she preferred the earlier numbness she'd had since learning of Charlie's death, than what she was feeling now. "Be strong Joey," she spoke aloud.

* * *

Joey had just finished drying herself when there was a knock on the door. Quickly throwing on some clothes, she went to answer the door.

Her heart dropped when she saw the Detectives and two other officers standing there. "Can't whatever this is about wait until tomorrow?"

"I'm sorry Miss Collins, but we have a warrant to search your house," Holmes stated firmly.

"I need to call my lawyer."

"The warrant is in order."

"That's for my lawyer to decide."

"We'll wait right here then," Holmes said.

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, Morag had pulled up and after some scowling and consultation with Joey, the Detectives and two Constables had been let into the house.

"Do you have a fire extinguisher?" Holmes asked.

"In the kitchen," Joey answered.

Holmes looked at Watson, who nodded and headed straight to the kitchen.

"Is this really necessary Detective?" Morag said when the two other officers started to look around the room.

"Perhaps if your client could explain the burn mark on her shoes and everything else, we wouldn't need to be here."

"I told you before, I don't remember," Joey said.

"Very convenient that," Holmes murmured loud enough for them all to hear.

"My counc,"

Morag cut her off with a sharp shake of her head. "Not now," she whispered to Joey.

"Where exactly in the kitchen is the extinguisher?" Watson called out from the kitchen.

Joey walked in and pointed. "It is right," her arm dropped uselessly to her side as she realised she was pointing to an empty spot. "It should be right there."

"Well it's not now," Holmes said. "Check the cupboards," she ordered Watson and then sent Avery and Hogan searching the rest of the house and outside.

After some crashing and banging through cupboards and drawers, Watson still hadn't found the missing extinguisher. Squatting in front of the sink, she looked in the cupboard beneath. "Holmes."

Her partner rushed over and with her gloved hands, Holmes reached in and picked up the item that had gotten Watson's attention. Holmes stood and turned to Joey and Morag and held it up for them to see.

"Detective, I have a jerry can of my own at my place," said Morag. "Perhaps you'd like to arrest me too?"

"That depends, are you in the habit of leaving an empty jerry can hidden behind other household items at the back of your sink cupboard, instead of in the shed or car where most people tend to keep their jerry cans of petrol?"

"I've never seen that can before," Joey replied.

"Of course you haven't," Holmes muttered sarcastically.

* * *

Ten minutes later, the missing extinguisher which Avery had found buried at the bottom of Joey's wheelie bin outside, had joined the jerry can in an evidence bag.

"Garbage day was four days ago, why didn't you put the bin out for collection?" Morag whispered to Joey.

"It was only partly full then, so I didn't bother," Joey said. "Morag, I never used that extinguisher or put it in the bin, hell, with everything else going on, I hadn't even noticed that it was missing."

"I believe you."

"You do?"

Morag nodded. "Someone is doing a hell of a job of setting you up Joey, of that I'm convinced."

Holmes cleared her throat to get their attention. "I'd like for Joey to answer some questions down at the station."

* * *

"It's ok Joey, the Detectives are just trying to scare you," Morag told her.

"It's working," Joey said, hating being in this interview room again.

"They have nothing more than they did before."

"Except for the extinguisher and jerry can."

"Don't worry about those," Morag said as the detectives joined them in the room.

* * *

An hour into the interview, Joey felt tired. Most of the questions had been the same as she'd been asked the first time she'd been questioned and her answers hadn't changed; she didn't know because she couldn't remember, only this time, she had been a little more confident in her denials, especially when asked a new question, like about the jerry can and extinguisher.

"There is no way you can link that jerry can to the arson," Morag said confidently. "Every car, lawn mower, jerry can and whatever else uses or carries petrol in this town would have the same petrol in it, because it all comes from the same place."

"Admittedly, on its own, the jerry can isn't that compelling, evidence wise, but add the empty fire extinguisher to the equation," Holmes shook her head. "Even you can see that it doesn't look good for your client, especially as her fingerprints were on it."

"Joey never denied owning a fire extinguisher, so her fingerprints being on the one found at her place is hardly surprising and you didn't find her fingerprints on the jerry can."

"Only because they were too smudged to get a clear print," countered Holmes. "Your client can't explain the presence of the jerry can, just like she can't explain why the fire extinguisher is empty."

"Joey, when you moved into the house, it was already furnished, wasn't it?" Morag asked her.

"Yes."

"Then that jerry can could easily have been left by the previous tenant and therefore could have been in that cupboard for ages," Morag pointed out. "And since it took some effort for Det. Watson to find it behind all that other stuff, you can hardly blame Joey for never seeing it before today."

Holmes rolled her eyes at Morag's reasoning. "And the empty fire extinguisher? Or is using that and then putting it in the bin just another thing Joey has forgotten doing or perhaps it emptied itself and put itself in the bin," Holmes said sarcastically. "Petrol and a fire extinguisher were used during the murder of your client's lover and she just happens to have an empty jerry can and extinguisher lying around the house."

"They're common household items you'd find in most houses." Morag sat back with a smile. "It's not enough and you know it, otherwise you'd have already charged my client. Your search warrant turned up nothing else, and all you have are theories and evidence that you desperately want to fit those theories. You don't even have a motive unless you're willing to believe a character like Darryl Braxton and let's face it, it's kind of hard to take the word of a man who cheated on the victim with her best friend." Morag got to her feet and Joey followed her up. "This whole interview was clearly an attempt to intimidate my client into admitting to something she hasn't even done." Morag glared at Holmes. "My client is innocent and I suggest you stop harassing her or I might be forced to lodge a complaint with your superiors."

"We're just doing our job."

"Not very well," Morag said snidely. "Come on Joey, we're leaving."

* * *

"Why didn't you let me tell them about Rachel believing my memory loss was a side effect of being drugged?" Joey said as they made their way out of the station.

"I don't want to play all our cards just yet and I think it best that you have more counselling sessions behind you than just the two so far," Morag said. "It will give Rachel's opinion more credence if she's spent more time with you."

"I suppose so."

"There is another thing, Joey. I want you to get the locks changed on your house, because someone had to have been inside to get your extinguisher and quite possibly put that jerry can there."

Joey shivered at the idea that her home had been invaded. "That can didn't come with the furniture," she said.

"If we can't prove someone else deliberately put it there to set you up, then the previous tenant leaving it behind is a viable option." And since the previous occupant had died of a heart attack a month before Joey had moved in, then there was no real way to prove it hadn't belonged to him.

* * *

"I was willing to give Joey the benefit of the doubt because I knew how much she loved Charlie and I honestly believed she wasn't capable of doing that to Charlie," Jack said to Avery as they made their way to a squad car. "But now I'm not so sure, because so much is leading back to her."

"Yeah I know," Avery replied. "That fire extinguisher hadn't just been tossed into the bin, it had been deliberately hidden at the bottom." At least, that was how he saw it.

"I'm starting to think she's not as sweet and innocent as she's always made out to be," Jack said. He sighed heavily, "I wish Brax had never been dumb enough to screw Leah, because Charlie was so much better off with him than she ever was with that woman."

Avery coughed and Jack followed his eyes. "Shit," he muttered, realising Joey and Morag had been able to hear everything.

With just a look, Morag managed to make him feel small as Joey rushed away without saying anything.

* * *

Watson watched from the office window as Morag and Joey got into the car. "Morag is right," she said. "If we can't provide a solid motive, then we're going to have a hell of a hard time convincing a jury that that harmless looking woman had a reason to burn her girlfriend alive, especially when she has Battleship Bellingham fighting in her corner."

"I have to admit, I'm rather enjoying the battle with Bellingham. She's damn good at her job and she could probably sway a jury with her fanciful explanations for the evidence we have, but it's still early days in the investigation and if there's more evidence out there, we'll find it and build a case that even the great Battleship will struggle to sink." Picking up on something in her partner's demeanour, Holmes studied her for a moment. "What are you thinking?"

"That the evidence so far almost seems too easy," murmured Watson.

"You're back on the theory of her being set up?" When they'd spoken of that possibility previously, Holmes had given it some thought, but she just wasn't convinced that it was anything other than a fanciful theory.

"It's just that if you've managed to organise and stage a murder without being seen and by using fire, destroyed any physical evidence, then why would you then be so careless as to leave the necklace behind and a trail straight back to you?" Watson said. "And why not dispose of the clothes, the shoes and the jerry can along with the extinguisher? I mean, if she'd done that and put the wheelie bin out on garbage day, then chances are, all we'd have is the necklace, because the rest would have been compacted with the rest of the town's garbage, but she didn't do that and so now we have this nice little pile of evidence that is slowly growing against her."

"Maybe the planning was the easy part but implementing and then dealing with the consequences of what she'd done might have been greater than she expected and the gravity and guilt hit her hard and so she didn't realise she'd left the necklace behind and then when she gets home, she gets drunk and forgets about the shoes and clothes, either that, or she just didn't get a chance to dispose of them properly before we turned up."

The whole thing just didn't feel right to Watson and Joey's reactions had seemed so genuine. She thought back to the funeral. If the killer had been there, then any guilt or deception hadn't been obvious, so the person was a good actor, but was Joey? She just didn't know.

"There is another option," Holmes said. "Joey is guilty and has staged it to make us think she is being set up so as to throw us off."

"Except we're not really buying it."

"I'm not, but you are having doubts and that's all Joey would need to do with the jury; create doubt with just a couple of them by making them seriously consider the possibility that she could have been set up."

Watson shook her head. "None of it makes sense though. Would you really make it so obvious with the trail of evidence and the same goes for if she really is being set up, I mean, if you wanted someone else to take the blame for a murder you committed, then why would you stage it in a way that could make it seem like an obvious set up?"

"Look, maybe the killer just messed up."

"And I'm over thinking this and it's starting to give me a headache."

"It's been another long day, so we should wrap up here and head back to the hotel."

* * *

_Was it just a chat about her dead lover or was there a more sinister reason for Joey Collins to once more be dragged to the police station? The police have yet to make a comment but I'll keep you informed of any new developments._

_This is Belle Taylor, your voice of the Bay."_

* * *

Watson glared at the clock and groaned. It was 2am, so a knock on her hotel door at this time of night wasn't a good sign.

Grabbing her robe, she opened the door to find Holmes there.

"Watson, there's been another murder."


	22. Chapter 22

"You ok Watson?" Holmes asked her silent partner when they pulled up to the crime scene.

She nodded. "Yeah, this has just come as a bit of a shock is all and it's not like with Charlie's death." She and Charlie hadn't been friends and she had tended to avoid Charlie whenever she was in town, so she never really knew her that well, unlike this victim. "I knew him Susan, better than I knew most others here and though we hadn't had much of a chance to catch up since I got back here, I'd have considered him a friend."

"I'm sorry I brought you into this investigation," Holmes said to her. "I thought your local knowledge would be valuable, along with your familiarity to these people, but I never expected that you would end up investigating the murder of a friend."

"Neither of us expected this to happen."

"Maybe we should have," Holmes said. "I mean, the first murder was particularly heinous, so maybe it was remiss not to seriously consider the possibility that a person capable of such depravity would kill again." Holmes stared out toward the gathering of police officers who had set up a human barrier around the body to keep out the prying eyes of any unwelcome visitors, like the media, who she was pleased to see hadn't yet arrived. With another dead cop, she and Watson were going to be under an intense microscope about everything they did from now on and so they needed to make sure they didn't fuck up in anyway. "But let's not speculate as to whether both murders are connected just yet and look at this as a new investigation."

"I'm not sure what is worse, that we could have one depraved killer or two," Watson murmured and if half of what Holmes had told her about the way Jack had been found was true, then she had strong doubts as to whether Joey could have done it. Hell, even with the evidence pointing to Joey for Charlie's murder, she still wasn't convinced that she had killed her and at least in that instance, there was the possible motive of jealousy but she could think of no reason for Joey to have committed this latest murder. She stopped herself from speculating any further for this investigation was only just starting and she hadn't even seen the body yet. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, preparing herself for what she was about to see.

"If this is too much for you to deal with, I could request another Detective?" Holmes offered quietly when she heard the indrawn breath.

Watson shook her head. "It would take away valuable time from the investigation to get a new Detective up-to-date with everything and we need to solve these murders before another person falls victim." God, she hoped no one else did die.

With a quick glance around them, Holmes leant across from the passenger seat and brushed her lips over Watson's, surprising her, for Holmes wasn't one for public displays of affection and neither was she. "If at any time it gets too much, just take a step back," Holmes said. "No one will think any less of you, especially me."

Watson nodded and with Holmes, exited the car. Her step faulted slightly as they drew nearer to their latest victim, but she pushed through it and kept pace with Holmes.

Holmes immediately took note of the presence of Angelo and Stevenson. Both were suspended from the investigation into Charlie's murder but she could hardly blame them for being here when it appeared that just about every officer from the Yabbie Creek station was here, whether they had been on duty or not and until or if, they made a connection between both murders, then for the moment, they weren't suspects in this murder, though she did spare another glance at Stevenson.

"Fuck," Holmes muttered when they finally came in to view of the body and she heard a similar response from Watson, for there, staked out and spreadeagled on the blood stained ground in front of his squad car, was Snr Const. Jack Holden. Whoever had done this had left the car lights on so that Jack's body was illuminated for all to see and it was an image Watson knew was going to stick with her for a long time.

"Oh god, his eyes are gone," murmured Watson, who had to take a few deep breaths to avoid throwing up.

Holmes looked away from the body to Const. Hogan. "Where are his eyes?"

"We haven't found them," Hogan said in the strongest voice he could manage, yet it still quavered with emotion; after Charlie, he thought he'd seen it all but he had been wrong. "The sick bastard took his eyes and sliced him right open from his neck to his belly button." He glared at the two detectives. "That's two of us down now, so you need to get this sick fucker."

"Let's just start with Jack's last known movements," said Holmes as calmly as she could.

"Jack came on for his night shift not long after you had left for the day," Hogan said. "He spent some time going over paperwork, then went out on patrol. For the most part, it was a routine shift, with Jack calling in with regular updates and then just before midnight, he reported in that he thought he'd witnessed a drug deal."

"Did he say who was involved in this suspected drug deal?"

"Heath Braxton and Liam Murphy."

"Liam Murphy," murmured Holmes. "Why does that name sound familiar?"

"He's a failed rock star, turned junkie, turned ex-junkie, turned teacher, turned ex-teacher because he got busted for using again," Hogan informed her. "Stupid bastard lost everything and now lives in the caravan park shooting poison into his veins," he said with obvious disdain for Liam. "Anyway, Jack called in to say he was positive he saw drugs being exchanged, but by the time he got to them, they'd tossed whatever they had down a gulley trap and swore to their innocence and without any evidence, Jack was forced to let them go."

"Jack had previously mentioned that Braxton hadn't been in trouble recently," Holmes pointed out.

"Doesn't mean he wasn't still dealing," Hogan said. "As far as that guy is concerned, he has no problem with destroying people's lives and making a quick buck in doing so."

"We're going to need to speak to both Murphy and Braxton," Holmes said.

"Are they suspects?" Hogan asked a little eagerly. He would have no problem throwing either of them in jail.

"It's a little early to say but at the very least, they're possibly the last two people that we know of, who saw Jack Holden alive. Was that radio call the last you heard from Jack?"

Hogan nodded. "When he didn't call in after an hour or so, I got a bit worried, especially when I couldn't get a hold of him by radio or his mobile, so I accessed his location through the squad car's GPS and came out here and," his voice broke off. "Fuck," he mumbled and furiously wiped away a few tears as his emotions got the better of him.

"It's ok to show that you're upset Constable," Holmes quietly said. "I know it can't have been easy for you to have found your friend like this." She was about to say more when they were all surprised by a heart rending cry.

"Please no, not my Jack!"

"Oh fuck," Watson said and turned to Angelo who was the closest to the woman running toward them. "Don't let her see her husband like this," she yelled to him.

Angelo finally reacted to Martha's presence and Watson's shout and rushed to intercept her.

"Get the fuck away from me you murdering bastard," screamed Martha. She struggled furiously against him and finally managed to slap him hard enough that he let go. "You did this, didn't you?" she shouted at him. "You killed my husband just so you could have me all to yourself."

"I think we might just have been given a motive and a suspect," Holmes murmured amongst the shocked onlookers.


	23. Chapter 23

_"I think we might just have been given a motive and a suspect," Holmes murmured amongst the shocked onlookers._

"And I guess now we know who the woman was we heard coming from Angelo's house that day," muttered Watson. After Morag's little reveal about Angelo and Charlie's argument, she hadn't wanted to believe he could be capable of such a murder, yet now they were being presented with motive for another murder and when it came to murder, jealousy was a big one. Still, she was having trouble seeing either Joey or Angelo as the sick fuck committing these awful murders and the possibility that there could be two twisted killers on the loose in this once peaceful town wasn't sitting well with her either, but Holmes had been right when she said they needed to treat this as a new and separate investigation, at least until they knew differently and right now, things were pointing at her ex-boyfriend and so she needed to be professional and objective, especially where Angelo was concerned.

"Martha, no," Angelo said, defending himself against her attack without hurting her as she laid into him with her fists.

"You couldn't handle me choosing him over you and so you took him away from me," she raged at him.

"I would never hurt Jack," argued Angelo. "He was my best mate."

"Yet you'd fuck me behind his back," Martha shouted as she remained oblivious to the crowd of onlookers. "I hate you."

"Please don't say that Martha," he pleaded. "I love you and I promise you, I'd never do anything to hurt you." He ducked when she took another swing at him.

"Const. Rosetta, I suggest you move away from her right now." Holmes' tone broke through the spell the spectacle had cast over the onlookers, as well as Martha's rage and she would have collapsed to her knees if not for Watson coming to her side and holding her up.

"I can't believe he's gone," Martha cried out through her tears as she leant heavily on Watson for support.

"I'm so sorry Martha."

Martha gripped Watson's arms and stared pleadingly into her eyes. "I know you and Angelo were lovers once, but please, don't let that cloud your judgement where he is concerned."

"Angelo and I were a long time ago," Watson replied softly. "And I can assure you that if he is guilty, I won't look the other way."

"Thank you."

"I really am sorry for your loss Martha, but we're going to need to take a statement from you."

She nodded and let Watson lead her to the Detective's car just as Sid pulled up beside them.

"Martha, are you ok?" he asked in concern.

"Jack's dead," she responded in a broken voice.

"Oh god."

Watson opened the back door for Martha and helped her in, before facing Sid. "Dr Walker, you should prepare yourself for the scene."

"I take it then that it's bad."

"Yeah."

"It is times like this I wish I didn't have to be the M.E. at a crime scene," he murmured, but he also knew he wouldn't trust anyone else with such an important job. He tilted his head in acknowledgment to Holmes as he joined them and it took all of his strength to ignore the way Jack was displayed and concentrate only on his examination of the body. "Cursory examination suggests he died from massive blood loss," he said. "Of course an autopsy will confirm it."

"We need to follow up with Martha and Angelo first, but we'd like to be present at the autopsy, so please don't start without us," Holmes said.

"I'll clean up the body and have everything ready for your arrival," Sid said and then he turned and left as quickly as he had come.

Holmes spoke to the Constable by her side. "Hogan, I want you to keep the vultures at bay until the crime scene unit gets here."

"Sure thing."

"Poor guy," Watson murmured when Holmes joined her at the car. "It can't be easy for Dr Walker when he knows these people so well."

"I could offer to bring in another M.E., but I get the feeling he wouldn't like the idea of a stranger doing his job for him."

"Probably not."

"The crime scene unit is still an hour or so away, so I'm leaving Hogan in charge of the scene," Holmes told her and then she glanced at Martha in the back of their car. "Avery will take Angelo in for us, but I think it best we start with Martha when we get back to the station."

"I can't believe Angelo would go behind Jack's back and sleep with his wife." She shook her head in disappointment. "They were supposed to be best mates."

"It wouldn't be the first time a woman has come between mates."

Unfortunately, Watson could only agree with her.

* * *

Watson set the cup of tea down on the table in front of Martha. "Thank you," murmured Martha.

"Roo and Morag are on their way if you'd like to wait for them before we get started," Watson told her and Holmes tried not to roll her eyes at having both of those women involved again, this time, as support and family for the victim's wife.

Shaking her head, Martha pushed the tea aside. "I just want to get this over with."

"How did you hear about Jack?" she asked.

"I couldn't sleep and tried calling Jack because hearing his voice always made me feel better, but when he didn't answer his phone, I felt this cold hand gripping my heart and I couldn't stop it, so I went to the station and as soon as Fitzy told me a cop had been killed, I knew without her even saying another word that it was Jack." She dabbed at her eyes with a tissue. "I still didn't want to believe it could be him, but now I know it's true."

"I'm sorry Martha," Watson said softly.

"It feels like I'm being punished for my infidelity," she murmured.

"How long has the affair been going on for?" asked Holmes.

"Six months," admitted Martha. "My love for Jack has never diminished, but we've been together since High School and," she closed her eyes and shook her head in disappointment at her own actions. "Things had gotten a bit stale in the bedroom and one night, I had a few too many drinks with Angelo and one thing led to another and before I realised it, I was having a full blown affair." She angrily wiped away a few tears. "I am so fucking weak, first for falling into bed with Angelo and then for not being able to end it with him."

Holmes pushed the box of tissues closer to Martha and asked her, "Was your husband aware of the affair or had he suspected in anyway?"

"Jack never said anything or acted any differently around either of us, so no, I don't think he even suspected." A fresh lot of tears threatened to fall. "I just wish I'd never gotten mixed up with Angelo."

Watson took over the questioning again. "What do you feel for Angelo?"

"I do love him," she finally admitted aloud. "Nowhere near like I love," she paused and swallowed hard. "Loved Jack, but I did care for Angelo, which just makes believing he did this so much harder to deal with."

"Has Angelo done or said something to make you believe he could be responsible for Jack's death?"

"Lately, he has been pressuring me to leave Jack and before the funeral yesterday, he said that if it wasn't for Jack, then I'd be married to him and he even threatened to tell Jack about us." She shrugged helplessly, "I guess he thought Jack would dump me and then he could have me all to himself."

"He was willing to risk his friendship with Jack?" If what Martha was telling them was true, then it was hard to deny that her ex certainly had an excellent motive for wanting Jack out of the picture.

"He wasn't exactly thinking of his friendship every time he fucked me," Martha mumbled.

"Do you think Angelo would have gone through with his threat?" Watson asked and knew they needed to check Angelo's movements to find out if he'd spoken alone to Jack since the funeral. In her mind, she pictured a showdown between the two men, where Angelo revealed the affair and…she quickly dispelled the rest of the image before it played out and turned her attention back to Martha.

"Once, I may have said no way to him hurting Jack like that, but after the way he was looking at me at Charlie's funeral, I was honestly starting to believe that he would go to Jack," Martha told them. "It felt like Angelo was becoming obsessed with me and," she shivered as she recalled the fervent desire in Angelo's eyes as he had watched her."I really got the impression he wasn't going to let me just walk away from him."

"Was there anything else that Angelo did that caught your attention?"

"No."

Watson made a few notes. "Were you aware of anyone else who your husband may have been having issues with?"

"Only that Aden guy," Martha said and Watson's pen pressed a little harder against the paper she was writing on at the mention of his name; the guy just set off this uneasiness in her. "Jack was furious with him for implying he was jealous and out to get him."

"Did Jack tell you what was said between the two of them the day that Jack hit him?"

"Aden told him that he had every reason to be jealous, because I had offered him more than just a friendly hello when he came to the bar and then Aden told him that he had gladly taken me up on my offer in the toilets."

"And had you?" Holmes bluntly asked.

"NO!" snapped Martha. "I have never had sex with a customer."

"Except for Angelo," Holmes pointed out.

"Fuck," Martha muttered at the reminder. "I swear, aside from my husband, Angelo is the only man I've ever slept with while I've been married."

Before another question could be asked, the door burst open and Morag waltzed in. "Don't say another word Martha," she commanded her.

"It's ok Morag, I'm just helping them to get Jack's killer."  
"They're just as likely to view you as a suspect."

"I would never kill Jack!" Martha said in outrage at the suggestion.

"And Joey would never kill Charlie, yet these two detectives," she said the last word as if it was a foul word, "Seem to think she did." Morag glared at the two women in question. "In future, if you want to talk to Martha, you will only do so in my presence or that of her mother's." She held her hand out to Martha. "Come on Martha, your mother is waiting for us outside."

They were barely out of the room when raised voices reached the ears of Watson and Holmes.

"Martha, please."

"Shit," Watson said and rushed out after them to find Morag standing between Martha and Angelo.

"Stay away from her," Morag warned him.

"I swear Martha, I didn't hurt Jack," he pleaded to her to believe him.

"Leave me alone Angelo," begged Martha.

"Angelo, to the interview room, now!" ordered Holmes and for a moment, it looked like Angelo was about to protest, but when Martha turned her back on him, his shoulders slumped and with his head down, he moved slowly toward the interview room.

"Detectives, did I not warn you about Angelo," Morag said as a parting shot to them as she led Martha away.

Holmes put a hand on Watson's arm when she started to walk back to the room where Angelo was now waiting for them. "Considering your history with Angelo, I think you should let me conduct the interview, but because you know him better than me, I still want you in the room so you can watch him to see if you can pick up anything from his reactions."

This was one interview Watson was dreading, she thought as she closed the door to the interview room.


	24. Chapter 24

_Been a bit busy lately, so I won't be able to update any of my stories again until Tuesday._

* * *

Angelo didn't even give Watson a chance to sit down before he was appealing to her. "I didn't kill him Georgie, Jack was my best friend."

"Angelo, you were sleeping with his wife."

He winced at the censure in her voice. "God," he stared at the table. "How did everything get so fucked up?" he mumbled.

"Because you overstepped with your best friend's wife, who also happened to be a fellow officer, which makes what you did an even stupider move."

"I didn't plan for it to happen," he said in a pathetic manner. "It just kind of started after a drunken night of passion."

At a signal from Holmes, Watson sat back and let her take over. "Tell me, the first time you did the nasty with Martha, did you really have a few too many drinks with her or were you sober enough that you saw your chance with a drunken woman you had secretly desired for a long time and so you took advantage of the situation?"

Watson caught the flicker of guilt in his eyes and she suppressed a groan of disappointment. If she hadn't heard the sordid details for herself, she never in her wildest imagination could have thought Angelo would ever betray Jack in such a way, especially as they, along with Martha, had been friends together for so long, yet now they were just another example of a woman coming between mates and this time, it may have led to murder.

"I admit, I've always found Martha a very beautiful woman but she was my best mate's girl and so until that night, I never dreamt of stepping over the line and I wouldn't have if I'd been sober." He shrugged. "But alcohol makes you do dumb things, especially when you're totally pissed," he told Holmes.

His emphasis on the last words only made Watson doubt him more. She believed he'd had a few drinks, but now she also believed that Angelo had been sober enough to know exactly what he was doing that night and as Holmes had implied, he had taken advantage of the situation. His reaction to her coming out had surprised her and now, learning of the affair and how it started, she was starting to wonder if she ever knew him at all and as much as she still hoped that Angelo was innocent of Jack's murder, Watson was starting to find it a little easier to be objective and look at Angelo like a suspect and not as an ex-boyfriend.

"Yet when you sobered up," Holmes said and Watson could tell by her tone that she held the same doubts as her about the level of Angelo's supposed inebriation that night. "You carried on with the affair." Holmes stared at him and Angelo squirmed in his seat under the intensity of that gaze. "Did you ever feel guilty about betraying Jack that night or for going behind his back and putting it into his wife for six whole months?"

Angelo couldn't hold her gaze and looked away, muttering, "Of course I did."

"But I bet it didn't take long for you to push the guilt aside and convince yourself that your feelings for Martha justified the betrayal," she said scathingly.

"Look, I'm not proud of what I did but you can't help who you fall in love with."

"Ah, the ever popular excuse for hooking up with someone you shouldn't," Holmes sarcastically said and Angelo leapt to his feet and leant over the table menacingly.

Watson watched the scene, ready to react if necessary, but she saw the moment Angelo realised what Holmes was up to and relaxed when he sat back down.

Angelo shook his head in annoyance. "You're trying to wind me up."

"You have a bit of a temper there."

"I just saw my best friend staked out like he was bait for the fucking crows," Angelo angrily replied. "And you've got me in here to take pot shots at me for falling for a woman."

"A woman married to your best friend, who just happens to have been butchered to death," Holmes fired back. "Very convenient for you."

"You bitch."

"That's Det. Sgt. Bitch to you, Constable," Holmes said with a sickly sweet tone. "And you're really not doing yourself any favours with your attitude."

"I didn't kill Jack," he said through gritted teeth.

"In that case, where were you between midnight and when Jack was found?"

"I had finished my shift at 9," he said with some reluctance, as he knew his next words would only make things worse for him. "And then I went straight home."

"So you have no alibi?"

"Not unless you call sleeping alone in bed an alibi." He sighed and rubbed his face, feeling incredibly tired. "I know how it looks, but I didn't kill him. Granted, fucking his wife makes me the worst best friend ever, but I love Martha and I also know how much Jack meant to her, so I would never hurt her like that just to get her for myself," he said.

"Martha seems to feel differently," said Holmes. "She was getting the impression you were becoming obsessed with her and you were pressuring her to leave her husband."

"I'm not obsessed and I wasn't pressuring her."

"So you weren't putting pressure on her to leave her husband for you?" Angelo glanced down at his hands. "And you didn't threaten to tell Jack you had been fucking his wife for months?"

"That was just said in the heat of the moment."

"What moment?"

"We'd just had sex before Charlie's funeral and I told Martha I loved her," he said. "I was just trying to get her to admit she felt the same, but she denied it."

Yet she admitted she did love Angelo to them earlier, thought Watson. Martha's lie to Angelo might have tipped him over the edge, then again, if she'd admitted her true feelings to him, the same might have happened. That was the danger of affairs; people always ended up getting hurt and sometimes, it even ended with murder.

"And her denial hurt ok," he admitted. "So I said some dumb things."

"Like telling her that if it wasn't for her husband, then she'd be with you?"

"I never meant it like that. Look, I wanted Martha, I'm not going to deny that, but as much as I wanted her to choose me over Jack, I wanted her to be with me because she loved me and not because I was all that was left."

"But since Jack is no longer standing in between you and the woman you love, you are all that is left."

"Georgie," he appealed to his ex again. "I didn't do this."

"Please direct your responses to me," Holmes instructed him.

"Fine, I didn't do this," he told her.

Holmes sat back in her seat and crossed her arms, looking relaxed. "Who do you think killed Jack then?"

"The same person who killed Charlie," he replied. "And since it looks like Joey killed Charlie, why don't you go and talk to her about Jack."

"What motive would she have for killing Jack?"

"She never liked the fact that Jack had slept with Charlie."

"That was when they were teenagers and if I'm not mistaken, Joey and Charlie weren't together at the time."

"Yeah, but it can't have been easy to see her girlfriend working with one of her exes."

"Just like it can't have been easy for you to see Martha with her husband," countered Holmes. "Tell me Angelo, were you ever one of the guys that Charlie used to get around with?"

He didn't even have to answer for they both saw the truth in his expression, but Holmes pressed him for a verbal response and he finally answered. "Yeah, Charlie and I had hooked up a few times over the years when she was in between relationships."

"You never said anything before now."

"It wasn't relevant," he replied. "We were two single adults who used to have sex occasionally, but it never meant anything and we stopped being fuck buddies once she became the Sergeant."

"It was relevant, because your previous sexual relationship adds a different context to that argument you had with her about your promotion."

"I told you, I fucked that promotion up myself."

"Are you trying to tell me that her giving you a bad performance review that cost you a promotion didn't hurt just that little bit more since she'd been happy to fuck you in the past, only then she fucked you over with the bad review?"

"She was just doing her job and I was the one in the wrong."

"And so there was no resentment toward her at all?"

"At first," Angelo admitted. "But once I accepted it was my own fault, I was ok with it and in all honesty, our sexual history never came into it." He shrugged, "If I thought it was relevant, I would have gone over her head and accused her of using our history against me, but I didn't, because it was all in the past," he told her. "I swear, I never killed Charlie or Jack."

"You have to see if from our point of view," said Holmes. "You have no alibi for either murder and you do have motive for both."

"And you have evidence that points to Joey," Angelo fired back. "I know jealousy makes a good motive, so yeah, I can accept why I'm a suspect in Jack's death, but I didn't have any real motive to kill Charlie and certainly not in such a horrible way. Joey on the other hand, has motive for both. Brax said he was sleeping with Charlie and knowing her, I wouldn't put it past her to having a bit on the side and that gives Joey motive if she had found out about them and like I said before, Joey didn't like the fact that Jack had been with Charlie."

"And you actually think that them having sex as teenagers is motive for Joey going after Jack after all of this time?" Holmes said sceptically. "Wouldn't Braxton have been a better target? I mean, he was Charlie's most recent lover, he was also engaged to her and so I'd have thought Joey would have more reason to be rid of him than Jack, especially since Braxton has been claiming he had been sleeping with her girlfriend and badmouthing Joey around town."

"So has Jack."

"I'm sorry?" Holmes said.

"Jack has been badmouthing Joey," he said somewhat smugly. "And she overheard him doing it."

Holmes leant forward with interest. "What did Jack say about her?"

"That he was starting to think she did it."

"He told you that?"

"No, he told Avery that and also that Charlie would have been better off with Brax than with Joey."

"And Joey overheard him say this?"

"Yeah and Avery said Joey didn't look happy about it."

"Can't imagine why she would feel unhappy about being talked about behind her back like that," murmured Holmes and Angelo flushed.

"I'm just telling you what happened."

"And you think that gave Joey motive?" she asked. "Because Jack said something she didn't like and he'd once slept with Charlie?"

"Sure, why not."

"You can't see the parallels with your own situation?" she queried. "You've had a sexual relationship with Charlie in the past and what she said in her report cost you a promotion, yet according to you, you don't have any real motive to kill Charlie, but you want us to see that a sexual encounter in the long distant past and a few words said now, gives Joey more motive to kill Jack than you, the man fucking his wife?" Holmes shook her head. "If you honestly believe that gives Joey motive for killing Jack, then surely it can be argued that you have a similar motive for killing Charlie."

"The difference is, you have evidence that points to Joey being Charlie's killer, but you have nothing on me and you won't, because I didn't hurt anybody."

"No, you've just fucked both victims, literally and figuratively," Holmes said scornfully. "You know what Angelo, you'd best be careful from now on."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, if all Jack had to do to end up on Joey's hit list, was to say a few words and sleep with her girlfriend years ago, then you'd better watch out, because you might be next, especially if Joey has become some avenging angel intent on wiping out her dead lover's exes and she finds out what you've been saying about her."

He flinched at her mocking tone. "Look, maybe killing Charlie did something to Joey, affected her in some way and she's losing it and so when she heard Jack say those things, it tipped her over again."

"Which could make her even more dangerous to you," Holmes said. "On the other hand, maybe you killing Charlie affected you in some way or it was just a warm up for your real target." She still liked Joey for Charlie's murder, as that was where the evidence was pointing, but Angelo was making it hard not to take a stronger interest in his possible involvement with both murders now.

"I didn't kill Jack or Charlie and Charlie and I never broadcast our fuck buddy status, so I doubt if anyone ever knew about us."

"Then I guess you're safe from Joey then," she replied sarcastically.

"I don't have to listen to this," Angelo said, going on the defensive. "And I'm not saying anything more without a lawyer, so charge me or I'm out of here."

"We don't have enough to charge you just yet, so you're free to leave, but while I can't remove you completely from active duty, I can however, stick you at a desk for the duration of the investigation, which is exactly what I'm going to do," Holmes informed him. "And I strongly recommend that you stay away from Martha Holden."

"Fine," Angelo ground out through gritted teeth. He just wanted out of this room before he did something dumb and so he wasted no time in leaving.

Watson closed the door after his hurried exit. "I'm kind of glad I figured out I was gay and never ended up with Angelo long term." She leant tiredly against the wall by the door. "I couldn't believe what I was hearing in here."

"You were hearing a man caught in a hole and looking for a way out by pointing the finger at someone else."

"His feelings for Martha make him our strongest suspect so far in Jack's death, but do you think he could have killed Charlie as well?"

"We can't ignore the evidence against Joey, but we also can't ignore that Angelo's sexual past with Charlie gives him a stronger motive than before. However, until we know for certain if we have one or two killers on our hands, then we need to treat them separately and to consider all possible suspects for each murder, like our latest victim's wife." Holmes said. "Angelo has a hell of a motive, but he wasn't the only one in that affair who may have wanted to end the marriage."

"If Martha wanted to be with Angelo," which going by her interview, was doubtful, thought Watson, "She could have just divorced Jack and if she wanted to kill her husband so she could be with her lover, why would she then drop Angelo in it?"

"I don't know, but she was engaged in an affair and her husband ended up dead, so we need to check her out, just like we had to check out Joey when her lover died."

"Morag is certainly going to make investigating anything to do with Martha difficult," murmured Watson.

"And it's just our luck she's involved in both investigations, but there's nothing we can do except deal with it and get on with our job. Speaking of the Battleship, her arrival denied us a chance to quiz Martha on her lack of an alibi, so we need to follow up on that, same with Angelo's lack of an alibi."

"I'll send a couple of officers to interview their neighbours, see if anyone saw them at home since that was where they were meant to be."

"We also need to follow up on Heath Braxton and Liam Murphy. They could be our killers, or at the very least, they may have been the last to have seen Jack alive, but I'd like to speak to them personally, rather than send someone else." Holmes glanced at her watch. "We should be getting to the hospital," she said. "Hopefully Jack's body will give us something more to go on and maybe even tell us whether the murders are connected or not." She walked over to her partner and put a comforting hand on her arm. "I know you want to stay on the investigation, but it's not necessary for you to attend the autopsy, so why don't you sit this one out?"

"No, I can't pick and choose which ones I go to or avoid," Watson said. "Besides, Dr Walker was closer to Charlie and Jack than I ever was and he hasn't turned away from his responsibilities and if I'm to be successful in this job, then I need to learn to detach myself in situations like this."

"You're doing a good job so far Georgie, but just be careful not to become too detached, because in the long run, that could develop into something much worse," Holmes gently warned her. "You need to feel for the victims and their families but at the same time, not become too emotionally invested and it's hard to find that right balance."

Watson nodded and took a deep breath. "I can do this."

"Then let's do it."

* * *

The moment the two Detectives walked into the morgue, Watson almost had a change of mind about attending the autopsy, because it was never a good sign to see an ashen faced M.E.

"Thank god you're here now, I was just about to call you," Sid said and the urgency in his voice broke through Watson's hesitation and she kept stride with Holmes as they walked over to the table where Jack's body was laid out.

"You have something for us?" asked Holmes.

"There was so much blood at the scene and on the body, that I didn't realise there was another injury until I cleaned his body," Sid explained and he turned Jack onto his side so that his back was facing the detectives.

"Fuck," Watson muttered, filled with both shock and dread at the implications.

"Fuck indeed," murmured Sid. He'd never seen anything like it before, for there, carved into the skin of Jack's back, was the number '1'.


	25. Chapter 25

"This doesn't leave the room," Holmes told them as they all continued to stare at the ghastly carving on Jack's back. "And the press better not find out either."

"They won't be hearing it from me," muttered Sid, still shocked by what he'd seen.

"We'll need photos doctor," Holmes said, trying to get their attention back on the job at hand.

"I'll do it," Watson said. She walked over and picked the camera up from the side bench. Taking a deep breath, she told herself she was a cop and had a job to do and she started snapping off shots, all the while, trying to picture Jack as just a faceless victim and not someone she had known since she was young.

"Are you ok to continue the autopsy doctor?" Holmes asked with some compassion in her voice when she caught Sid looking away from Jack's body with a distressed look on his face.

"I can do this," he assured her. "But I really hope this is the last friend I see lying murdered on my autopsy table."

"We all hope that doctor," Holmes said to him. "What can you tell us so far?"

"I found a few things of interest while I was cleaning the blood away," Sid said, his professional demeanour firmly back in place. "I found a few bloody smears to indicate the killer wore gloves."

"Great, then no fingerprints," Holmes muttered unhappily.

"I also found this." He directed their attention to Jack's shoulder. "Do either of you recognise this type of mark on his skin?" Sid asked them.

Watson first snapped a photo of the mark before she took a closer look. "I saw similar looking marks at the Academy on the day the instructor was demonstrating the use of Tasers."

"That's my take on it too," Sid said. "On a living victim, Taser marks fade after about two hours, but death slows the process down and the mark stays longer, like with Jack here," he explained. "The prominence of this mark will help give us a TOD."

"We have a fair idea of the TOD from Jack's movements," Holmes said. "What else can you tell us?"

"There was another mark," he said and pointed to the side of Jack's neck. "That was made by a syringe," he told them as they looked at the mark.

"Are you saying that Jack was Tasered and then drugged?" stated Watson as she took photos of that mark as well.

"There is only one Taser mark which suggests it was used just the once," he said. "That initial use would have been enough to incapacitate Jack long enough for the killer to bind his wrists and ankles, but if you look at his body, you can see for yourself that there are no signs that Jack tried to struggle against the bindings."

Watson took note of the lack of any bruising or abrasions in the areas where the rope had been tied and had a bad feeling where the doctor was going with this.

"I will need to do the autopsy to confirm it, but those wounds don't look post mortem, which means Jack was very much alive when the killer started to cut into him."

Watson winced in sympathetic pain. "And yet Jack never struggled against his restraints, because he couldn't," she surmised.

"I've already sent off a sample of his blood for analysis, but I'm positive Jack had been given a drug that prevented him from fighting against his restraints."

"Jack was conscious when he was being cut, wasn't he?" Watson said softly.

"If we can identify the drug, I'll better be able to answer that question."

"You have an opinion though, don't you doctor?" Holmes asked him.

"If a quick death was what the bastard wanted, then he could have just slit Jack's throat, yet he Tasered Jack, tied him up, drugged him and then proceeded to apply multiple cuts, so in my opinion, then yes, Jack was conscious for most of it," Sid answered her.

"Oh dear god," Watson murmured, feeling sickened at what Jack must have gone through and the chill of the morgue added to the coldness she was already feeling. "Would he have felt it?" she asked with a slight quaver in her voice.

"Torture seems to be this killer's turn on, so I can only assume that if he kept Jack conscious and immobile, then he probably would have wanted Jack to feel it all, just as Charlie was forced to when he burned her alive. Of course we'll know with more certainty once the toxicology results are back."

"You know of these drugs that can achieve this?" Holmes asked him.

Sid nodded. "We use such drugs in surgery, in particularly neurosurgery, when it's necessary to have the patient conscious but immobile during surgery, yet that's done in combination with other drugs that numb the pain, so the patient is awake, immobile and for the large part, can't feel the scalpel."

"So our killer could have used a drug that immobilises and keeps the person conscious but skipped over the painkilling ones," Holmes said. "Doctor, I know you've conducted an audit already, but I'd like for you to double check your medical supplies and I'd like you to oversee it personally."

"The nurse I had run the first audit is entirely trustworthy."

"All the same, I'd like you to oversee another audit."

"Fine."

"Now, you said earlier that torture seems to be this killer's turn on, so do you believe we're dealing with the same killer for both murders?" Holmes asked him.

"I just assumed we were," Sid said and then looked at her more intently. "But are you suggesting there could be more than one killer out there?"

"I'm suggesting we can't rule anything out."

Sid shuddered at the thought there could be more than one killer. "Well, the methodology is different, but the barbarity and torture is present in both murders."

"That's not exactly conclusive evidence the murders are connected though, is it?"

"No. I haven't done the autopsy on Jack yet, so that may change, but at the moment, I guess I can't say with any certainty if the murders were committed by the same person or not."

"We haven't ruled out drugs in Charlie's murder yet, but what if a Taser had been used on her as well, then the use of both drugs and a Taser would connect the murders," Watson said.

"Unfortunately, because of the damage done to her body by the fire, I never saw any such marks on Charlie when I examined her and tox screen came up negative, so we have no way of knowing if either were used on her," Sid said.

"What if the killer had cut Charlie in a similar way to Jack," Watson said, indicating the cut on Jack's back. "Would fire have destroyed that as well?"

"That cut is deep and if there had been a similar one made on Charlie, then a fire wouldn't have completely covered it, yet I didn't find anything like that on her." He looked at Jack's back. "I suppose that could indicate the murders aren't connected."

"Well, until we have conclusive evidence to the contrary, we continue to treat both murders as separate investigations," Holmes said. "Tell me doctor, what do you think the significance of that number is?"

"I'm a doctor of medicine, not a profiler," snapped Sid.

"You're also the M.E.," Holmes reminded him.

"You think I've seen anything like this before?" he asked incredulously.

"No, but part of your role as M.E. is to offer your professional opinion on the victims that come before you."

"Well, my professional opinion is that some twisted psycho drugged and tortured Jack to death," Sid angrily said.

"Please doctor, we're on the same side and right now, I'm looking for anything that can help us bring an end to this before anyone else is hurt."

Sid took a calming breath and looked at the number on Jack's back. "It looks deeper than any of the other cuts and has obvious significance to the killer, but whether the number is a warning of things to come or something entirely different, I don't know, that's something you'll have to ask the killer."

"I really hope it's not a warning," Watson said, though she had a sinking feeling that hideous mark held a terrible foreboding. "Doctor, what do all the cuts tell you about the killer?"

"Incisions are clean, no hesitation marks, so I'd suggest that the killer has experience," Sid told them. "Or at least had a steady hand and no qualms about the pain he was inflicting on his victim."

"Can you tell what sort of blade made those incisions?" asked Holmes.

"Even without examining them closer, I'm pretty certain a mould of the wounds will show that a scalpel had been used."

"You're sure?"

"Detective, I've seen plenty of scalpel incisions as a doctor and that is exactly what those wounds look like to me," Sid told her. "But I'll take the moulds for comparison just to be certain."

"And the eyes?"

"I can't say just yet what the killer used to remove them."

"Post or pre mortem?"

"Thankfully, going by the lack of blood around his face, I'd say post-mortem, but I'll still need to confirm that."

"If it was post-mortem, then the killer stood by and waited for Jack to bleed to death, before taking his eyes," murmured Watson.

"And not only that, but I believe the cut on Jack's back was one of the last made, so the killer had already started to cut into him, then untied him, turned him over, carved the '1' into his back, then flipped him onto his back again, before retying him and cutting into him again."

"Tying him up, then untying him and then tying him up again seems rather time consuming under the circumstances and seemingly unnecessary if Jack was immobilised by drugs," Watson said, "So isn't it possible that Jack wasn't tied up to begin with and was only tied up once he was already dead?"

"Why would the killer even bother tying him up if Jack was already dead?" Sid asked her.

"For shock factor," Watson said. "Finding Jack posed in such a way had a definite impact on all who saw him like that."

"You may be right, the killer could have just been making a statement," Holmes said. "Or maybe the killer used the bindings for an added precaution while he worked, but one thing is certain, we can't know for sure when Jack was tied up and until toxicology is back, it's merely supposition on our part that drugs were even used, though it does seem the most likely scenario." She turned to Sid. "Doctor, which cut killed Jack?"

"There are numerous cuts to his stomach, but I believe this was the fatal one," he said, pointing to the cut that ran from Jack's neck to his belly button. "And going by the absence of dirt, which I had found in the other wounds, then this was also the final cut."

"So he slices the front a little, then leaves his mark on Jack's back, before delivering the final one to the front," Holmes murmured, more to herself than anyone else.

"Of course, all of this is just from a cursory look at the wounds and I'll need to perform a more thorough examination before I can come to any official determination as to the cause of death," Sid said to them. "Now, unless you'd care to stay and watch," he said with a hint of challenge to his voice, "Then I'm about to begin the autopsy."

"I think we have what we need for now and Watson and I have a lot to discuss back at the station," replied Holmes. "So we'll be going."

"Thank god," Watson muttered under her breath. This was one challenge she was more than happy to not take up.

"I'll have the autopsy report typed up and sent to you as soon as possible and then I'll get onto overseeing the drugs audit."

"Thank you doctor," Holmes said.

"You can thank me by catching whoever is doing this."

* * *

_Summer Bay has woken to the tragic news that a second police officer has been brutally murdered. Snr Const. Jack Holden was a much-loved police officer and member of the community and his death will be felt by many. _

_I wish I could ease people's fears and explain why this is happening to our peaceful town, but we're all in the dark and the police seem no closer to making an arrest._

_This is Belle Taylor, your voice of the Bay_


	26. Chapter 26

"No comment!" Holmes barked at the fifth reporter who had tried to shove a microphone in her face. "Fucking vultures," she muttered when she and Watson finally made it inside the station. "Avery," she said to the officer behind the counter. "Clear those people away from the front of the station."

"I've tried, but they just claim it's their right to be there to report on Jack's murder."

"They're a hazard, so get them away from the front door right now," she ordered him.

"A hazard?" He said, a little doubtful about the validity of her order.

"For safety reasons and in case of an emergency, a clear path is needed at all times and at all exits to the police station and those people are blocking the way, so move them on or arrest them if they refuse."

"Yes Detective."

"Really Holmes, a hazard?" Watson said with some amusement as they made their way to their office.

"Yeah, hazard as in, if one more of them put a microphone in my face, my reaction would most likely have been hazardous to their health."

Chuckling softly, Watson closed the door behind them. "You'd better get used to it, because it's only going to get worse from here."

"Yeah and for all the wrong reasons," Holmes said. "Two cops have been brutally killed, yet all those pricks are after is the next sound bite so they can scoop everyone else and peddle their news to the masses without any regard to the truth or due process."

"They're not all like that."

"You're right, there are some who genuinely care about their stories and the people involved," Holmes admitted, "But then you have the Belle Taylor's of the world, who don't really care who they have to step over to get the news, as long as they get it first and for them, that is more important than the actual story itself."

"That's like any profession though, there are good and bad representatives," Watson said. "And if we don't solve these murders, I can guess which side we'll be portrayed as by the media."

"People can say what they like about me, but as long as I'm doing my job to the best of my abilities, then they can go fuck themselves with their opinions."

"Just don't go saying that to the boss when you speak to him."

Holmes groaned and glanced at the wall clock. "He'll be expecting an update shortly."  
"There's not a lot to tell him," Watson said with a touch of disappointment and stared out the window.

"I'm not going to say that to him." Holmes walked over to Watson's side and placed a gentle hand on her arm. "You ok?"

Watson shrugged.

"In here, you can tell me anything and it goes no further," Holmes assured her.

After a moment of hesitation, Watson said, "I can't stop thinking about what Jack went through," she said in a quiet voice. "The fear and pain he must have felt as his life bled away."

"You need to stop thinking about that, because it won't do you any good, other than to distract you and eat away at you," Holmes gently said to her. "So instead, turn your energy toward the case and getting this person."

Watson closed her eyes and Holmes gave her the time to gather herself while she sorted through some of the files on her desk.

"You want a coffee?" Watson asked a few minutes later, her mind now fully focussed on the investigation.

Holmes nodded, "Make it diesel strength."

With coffees in hand, the two detectives sat opposite each other at Holmes' desk. "Ok, let's start with possible suspects for Jack's murder," Holmes said.

"Well, there's Heath Braxton and Liam Murphy," Watson replied. "Though I'm of the belief they're more witnesses to Jack's last known movements, than viable suspects."

"That's my feeling too, especially where Braxton is concerned," Holmes said. "After talking to him about the drugs the other day, I was left with the opinion that the guy is an idiot and certainly not someone capable of the planning involved in this murder, but we still need to talk to both him and Murphy and we should consider them as suspects until they've been cleared." Watson nodded in agreement. "Now, the doc seemed pretty confident the wounds on Jack were made by a scalpel," Holmes said. "And if the drugs he suspects were used on Jack were those you'd normally find in a hospital, then are we looking at a killer with a medical background or at the very least, someone with medical knowledge and easy access to those items?"

"You think that leads us back to Joey?"  
"Admittedly, she has a weaker motive for this murder compared to Angelo, but she works at the hospital, which gives her access to the drugs and scalpel," Holmes said.

"Except Joey's only a nurse and not even a surgical one at that."

"Being a nurse doesn't preclude her from knowing how to use a scalpel like a doctor," countered Holmes.

Watson conceded that point with a nod. "If this killer does have a medical background, then that doesn't really fit in with Angelo, who as far as I know, has no medical training aside from some basic first aid."

"And as things stand right now, Angelo does appear to have the strongest motive for wanting Jack out of the way," replied Holmes. "Well, the medical background is just a theory at the moment," she said. "And the steady hands of the killer might have nothing to do with being trained, but be just as the doctor said; the killer has no qualms about inflicting so much pain on a person and so has no hesitation in making the cuts."

"Great, so we're looking for someone who is so into inflicting pain and torture they could slice into another human being and then dig out his eyes without hesitation." Watson sighed heavily, her weariness getting the better of her. "We don't seem to be getting anywhere except creating more questions than we had before," she murmured in frustration. "We don't even know if we have one killer or two."

"While it is necessary to treat the murders as separate until we know for certain, neither of us can deny that both murders appear to have been planned and were barbaric beyond belief," Holmes said. "So just for the moment, let's allow ourselves to go on the premise that both murders were committed by the same person and see what we have so far."

"Well, the evidence in Charlie's murder leads to Joey, yet she has a weak motive for killing Jack."

"Unless she has another motive we don't know about yet," Holmes interrupted her.

"True, but we also don't really have a motive for her killing her lover, other than a so far unfounded claim of an affair by Charlie's jealous ex," Watson said. "Whereas Angelo has a strong motive for Jack and has cause for being resentful toward Charlie."

"Motive or not," Holmes said, "We have evidence that points to Joey for Charlie's murder and that is hard to ignore."

"What if she is being set up?"

"God, the Battleship would love to be hearing us talking like this," Holmes said a little bemusedly. "Ok, for arguments sake, let's go with the theory Joey was set up, then do you think Angelo would be capable of staging such an elaborate set up?"

Watson pondered that for a moment. She still hated thinking of her ex as a cold blooded murderer capable of such heinous acts and the idea he could frame an innocent woman was equally hard to imagine, but looking at it from an impartial point of view, she sighed, then answered. "As a cop, he'd be aware of the type of evidence we'd be looking for and that we'd suspect the victim's lover, so yeah, I think if Angelo wanted to commit a murder and have the evidence point to someone else, then he'd know how to do so."

"We need to follow up on the evidence we've got against Joey so far and take a more intensive look into Angelo's movements for both murders," Holmes stated. "Of course, with a second cop now dead, we also can't ignore the possibility the killer is someone with a grudge against the police force."

"I can think of someone like that off the top of my head," Watson said.

"Aden Jeffries," Holmes answered for her. "Who has no alibi for Charlie's murder and certainly gave the impression he wasn't Jack's biggest fan. We need to see if he has an alibi for Jack's murder and go through the arrest files again, only cross reference Jack's and Charlie's to see which ones they worked on together for starters."

"Oh joy," Watson muttered, unenthused about the prospect of sorting through the files again.

"Look, I know it's a long shot we'll find something in the files, but we need to be sure."

"Yeah, I know." She yawned and stretched. "It would just be nice to have some answers for a change instead of even more questions."

"Hopefully the Doc will come through with something in the autopsy that will help us," Holmes said. "But in the meantime, we need to have a chat with our suspects and check into their alibis or lack of one." She read out their list of suspects, "Joey Collins, Angelo Rosetta, Martha Holden, Aden Jeffries, Liam Murphy, Heath Braxton and Neil Stevenson."

"We haven't been able to completely rule out Stevenson in Charlie's murder yet and he got into that dust up with Jack," Watson said. "So he could be a suspect for both murders."

"Agreed," Holmes said. "And if we end up with only one killer, which I find far more preferable than having two of these sick psychos running around, then Joey, Angelo and Stevenson would be our potential suspects in both murders and while we still need to run the investigations separately for the time being, we need to relook at what we already have in Charlie's case to see if there is a connection between them."

"The crime scene report on Jack's murder should be due in later today or early tomorrow, as well as the autopsy, so we can do a comparison then and maybe we'll find a common link," Watson said. "And we still haven't been able to discount the use of drugs in Charlie's murder yet either, so that could be a connection."

"Except we may never be able to prove drugs were used on Charlie, so we need something a lot firmer than that for a connection."

Watson nodded. "Speaking of drugs, if Dr Walker's audit into the drugs again shows that none are missing, then we'll need to follow up on the dealer angle once more, so would we have to interview Robbo again?"

Holmes lips twitched at the obvious displeasure Watson held at that prospect and she wasn't too keen on having to be anywhere near that Robbo guy again either. "If and when it becomes necessary, we'll send a uniform to chase him up," Holmes said. "This case is getting bigger, so we're going to have to utilise the uniforms more for some of the running around, while we concentrate on the suspects and our killer or killers' reason for killing in such a way." She put her notebook down in front of them. "Starting with why he or she carved the number into Jack's back, what it means and if the absence of a similar one on Charlie indicates the murders are separate after all or has some other meaning all together?"

* * *

"Just in case you were still in any doubt about your _death_," her faceless captor mocked her, but Charlie wasn't really listening, her eyes riveted to the front page of the newspaper being held up in front of her by those gloved hands. She felt any hope of rescue start to leave her as she stared at the headline and photos depicting her funeral yesterday.

"It was a nice solemn affair with your friends and loved ones paying their respects," the electronic voice behind the mask told her. "Well, except for the rather amusing encounter between your drunken lover boy and girlfriend. Oh, that was a joy to watch," the voice taunted her. "He may be a thug of questionable morals, but it was so nice of him to provide the detectives with a nice motive for your lovely little girlfriend to kill you."

"What!" Charlie said in shock. "Joey would never hurt me and everyone knows that."

"Not everyone," the voice said. "And being the jealous type, your little trysts with Brax are the perfect motive for sweet Joey to have roasted you alive."

"There were no trysts with Brax," Charlie stated.

"It doesn't really matter whether you let him fuck your brains out or not," the faceless voice said. "With all the other evidence mounting against her, then even a half decent prosecutor could sell the jealousy motive and affair as fact to the jury and help to seal poor little Joey's fate."

"Why are you doing this to her?" demanded Charlie in a moment of defiance. "And to me?"

"Who said it's got anything to do about her?" the voice laughed and walked away without answering the second part of her question.

Charlie shivered and it wasn't just at the sound of the door locking once more. The laugh had been colder than it had ever been and with confirmation everyone believed her dead, then her fate seemed sealed.


	27. Chapter 27

Watson sipped what felt like her hundredth coffee that day. She glanced at the clock. It was nearing 5.00 pm and they had yet to hear back from Dr Walker, but they hadn't been idle in their wait though.

Holmes called their boss with an update on the situation and it had gone as expected; he wanted results and he wanted them quickly. Watson suspected his impatience with their lack of progress was because he had his own superior on his back, pushing him to get quick results, which as things currently stood, seemed unlikely to happen any time soon. Right now, they had more questions than answers, along with some theories, which hadn't exactly advanced them very far. One theory was that the killer had carved the number onto Jack's back because he was the first to be killed by this killer and it was a warning that there were more to come and if that was the case, then they did have two killers on the loose. The other theory, going on the presumption that both murders were committed by the same person, was that the killer was trying to confuse them and make them think the murders were unconnected by using a different MO and the mutilation was to convince them Jack was the first and so they should be looking for two killers, instead of just the one. There being more than one killer was still a possibility, Watson conceded to herself, but the sheer brutal nature of the murders had her leaning more to the side of there being a single killer and if so, then the evidence pointing to Joey for Charlie's murder could be suspect because she had yet to be convinced Joey had anything to do with Jack's murder; if Joey was innocent of one, then it stood to reason that she was innocent of the other, provided that is, the murders were committed by the same person.

It was still far too early in the investigation to clear Joey in Jack's murder though, but after speaking to Avery about what Jack had said about her, then that, along with Angelo's assertion that she was jealous of Jack's past intimacy with Charlie, didn't really seem to provide Joey with any real motive to have done such a dreadful thing to Jack and one thing she was sure of, the killer had wanted Jack to suffer, which made it an extremely personal murder. There was no doubt that jealousy was a hell of a motive, but even in Charlie's murder, all they had was an unsubstantiated allegation of an affair from a jealous ex as a possible motive and while overhearing some unpleasant conversation by someone who had once slept with your lover as a teen would piss anyone off, it hardly seemed a strong motive to torture someone so horribly. Of course, it was possible Joey had another motive for the murders and they just hadn't found it yet.

However, if they had one killer and Joey did prove to be innocent of Jack's murders, then that lent some weight to Morag's earlier claim that Joey was being set up and as drugs were more than likely used in Jack's murder, Morag may not have been too far off the mark in suggesting that the killer had drugged Joey, which would also explain her difficulty in recalling the night of Charlie's murder. And if she had been drugged, then the killer could have used her keys to get access to her house and plant the evidence. It was such a far out theory though and they had no proof she was being set up or that she wasn't faking the memory loss.

Watson couldn't stop thinking about the theory though and what it could mean with Jack's murder. There was no denying Angelo was by far their strongest suspect in that murder and had motive for Charlie's murder, but if Joey was being setup, then could it be possible the killer might also setup someone else, like Angelo, for Jack's murder? Angelo was more than knowledgeable on how to set someone up if he was guilty, but what if someone had discovered his affair with Martha, then the killer would know that would make him a strong suspect, much as being the lover had made Joey a strong suspect in Charlie's murder.

Watson sighed and reminded herself that she really did need to stop over thinking things or she'd drive herself nuts. They were only theories after all and with so little real evidence, they were no closer to catching the killer. Admittedly, they had so far only spoken to Angelo, Martha, Stevenson, Heath Braxton and Liam Murphy in relation to Jack's murder, the latter two already being cleared of the murder and as witnesses. After Jack had left them, Liam had gone straight to a party and had passed out with a woman in one of the rooms; his alibi had been confirmed by others at the party, while Braxton had also been there, most likely as the party drug supplier. The partygoers all denied that there had been any drugs at the party, but it was more a case of how evasive they had been when she and Holmes had spoken to them, that convinced them Braxton had been there dealing and despite his continued claims of innocence where drugs were concerned, Watson had passed on Braxton's name to the Drug Squad; let them deal with him and if they discovered in their investigation that there was a connection between him and dealing in hospital drugs, then they'd renew their own interest with him again.

Stevenson, on the other hand, had no alibi as he had been off duty when Jack was killed and had been home, watching TV. According to Fitzgerald, who along with four other officers, had interviewed Stevenson's neighbours, none had seen him leave and it was much the same when they doorknocked Angelo and Martha's neighbours; they had seen them arrive home, but the neighbours had either been asleep or not in the habit of spying on their neighbours like Colleen Smart and so any of their three suspects could easily have left later that night without anyone noticing.

They hadn't spoken to Aden Jeffries yet, as he was out of town for a meeting with his book publisher, confirmed by his editor. However, he had only left later that morning, so he could very well have been involved in Jack's murder. Watson took another sip of her coffee. The guy just gave off the worst vibes in her and she almost wanted it to be him just so she could lock him up well away from her.

"Ok, thanks Doc," Holmes said and she replaced the phone onto the cradle. "Dr Walker hasn't finished the autopsy yet and it's going to take him some time to get the report ready after that, so he'll send it through first thing tomorrow."

Watson nodded. "The crime scene report should still be in some time this evening though."

"While we wait for it, why don't we go have a little chat with Joey?"

"About Jack's murder?"

"She's already a suspect in the death of one police officer, so it would be remiss of us not to at least ask for her whereabouts for our second dead cop." They both got to their feet and Holmes looked at the large pile of folders on the table in the corner by the door. "I think I'm going to assign Hogan to go through the station's crime reports. He'd have a better idea of the cases Charlie and Jack worked on and can do the cross-referencing for us." Watson let out a small sigh of relief and Holmes smiled wryly. "Chances are, the files may not get us anywhere, so I think it best that we concentrate on the suspects we already have, rather than spread ourselves too thin trying to do it all."

"Well, you did say you wanted to make more use of the uniforms and Hogan seems like the reliable sort."

"I hope so, because we might have a lot of work for him to do."

Her words filled Watson with a sense of dread, as both she and Holmes expected another victim in the near future if they didn't put a stop to this.

* * *

It took a moment for Watson to recognise the woman who answered the door in place of Joey. Pippa Ross had aged gracefully over the years and was one of the few people who had been friendly toward her and taken the time to get to know her a little whenever she visited her father, but going by her current expression, she had a feeling this was going to be the one time Pippa wasn't happy to see her.

Knowing it wouldn't alter anything, Watson still put on her most welcoming smile, "Mrs Ross, we'd like to speak to Joey."

"I'm sure you would," Pippa replied and took a stance that prevented them from seeing inside the house.

"I take it that you have heard about Jack?" Watson said.

"Detective, you're local enough to know that if Alf Stewart farted in the diner, then the whole town would know about it within the next hour, so you can imagine how fast news of another murder spreads." She folded her arms across her chest, staring defiantly at them. "And I can tell you now that my daughter didn't do it."

Holmes stepped forward. "Mrs Ross, is it?"

"Everyone calls me Pippa, but you can keep calling me Mrs Ross."

A smiled tugged at Holmes' mouth. "Mrs Ross, we'd just like to ask Joey a few questions."

"You've asked more than enough questions of her already."

"Then perhaps you could answer one for us," Holmes said. "When did you arrive back in town?"

"Sally and I arrived first thing this morning."

"Then you can't alibi Joey."

"It's so nice to see that young people can still tell the time these days," Pippa noted sarcastically. "Obviously I can't alibi Joey, but I know my daughter and you're wasting your time and ours by being here." Without another word, she shut the door firmly in their faces.

"That went well," murmured Holmes. She had thought that since Roo Stewart would now be occupied with caring for her own daughter's well being after the death of her son-in-law, there would be one less roadblock in their way, but she'd just been replaced by an even bigger one. "Between mother hen there and Bellingham, I doubt we're going to be allowed within 50 feet of Joey."

"Probably not," Watson said in agreement. "And if you thought Morag was bad, Pippa Ross is even more protective of the kids she's taken in, especially those ones she's adopted like Joey and Sally."

"So playing by their rules, the only way we're going to get to talk to Joey is if we get something new against her?"

"Probably nothing short of arresting her will get her to the station again," replied Watson.

"And we have no cause to do so," muttered Holmes as they walked back to the car. "Yet."

* * *

"Who was that Pippa?" Joey asked when her mother returned to the kitchen where they were preparing tea.

"Just a couple of annoying door-to-door bullshit artists."

Joey's brow rose. "Pippa, when you talk like that, I know there's more to it."

"It was the Detectives, Dumb and Dumber, here to harass you again," she answered.

"I hate the situation I'm in," Joey said. "But the Detectives are only doing their job."

"And not very well if they suspect you."

"Pippa, even I suspected myself," Joey admitted to her, "Because I can't remember that night."

"You wouldn't hurt a fly Joey, everyone knows that."

"The Detectives don't know me though and there is evidence that points my way." Joey sat down on one of the chairs, her chin in her hands as she looked at the older woman. "I can't believe it's happening again," she said. "Martha must be absolutely devastated."

"I understand what the both of you are going through." She had lost two husbands; Tom to a heart attack and her second husband, Michael, had died rescuing their foster son Sam from a flooding river. "Losing someone you love so suddenly is hard, but you both have your families by your side and you will get through this."

"And I'm not moving in with you and Sally," Joey said, getting in first. From the moment she arrived, Pippa had been quite insistent she move in with them, yet despite all the reasons Pippa kept offering, Joey had resisted all of them. "Pippa, I don't want you caught in the middle of all of this."

"I'm your mother Joey, I'm already in the middle and I intend to stay there."

"Please Pippa," she pleaded. "I've already lost Charlie and I couldn't bear it if something happened to you or Sally all because someone has it in for me."

"We're not leaving town."

"I don't want you to, but I think it best I stay here alone."

Pippa eyed her daughter thoughtfully, before staring at the heavens. "Why do I have to raise such stubborn children?" she murmured good-naturedly.

"We take after you."

Pippa kissed the top of Joey's head. "I love you as my own Joey."

"I know and I love you as my mum," she replied. She had no memory of her birth mother, though there were times she had flashes of an image of a woman in her head, but she never knew if it was a memory or just a figment of her imagination.

"I realise now that I'll just be wasting my time trying to talk you into changing your mind," Pippa said. "But that doesn't mean I'm not going to worry about you and I'm certainly not going to get out of the way of those Detectives, especially if they continue on with their silly ideas."

Joey grinned as she pictured Pippa going toe-to-toe with Holmes and Watson and she knew who would come out on top. "Thanks Pippa."

"Just promise me that you will be careful Joey, because I couldn't bear something happening to you either."

"I promise, I'll be careful."


	28. Chapter 28

By the time the two Detectives returned to the Station after their unsuccessful attempt to speak to Joey, the crime scene report was waiting for them on their desks. Making another coffee, they sat down and went over the report and the photos taken of the scene.

"Ok, so according to the report, there was minimal evidence of a struggle at the scene and no sign of the body having been dragged there, which suggests Jack was Tasered and then tied up where he fell," Holmes said after they'd both read through the file. "Jack either trusted his attacker to let him or her get close enough to Taser him or he was caught completely by surprise."

"Which type of Taser do you think was used?" Watson said. "Those like police issue which shoot out wired points or one where you have to touch it directly to the person?"

"Going by the marks we saw on Jack's body, I'd say the Police issue type, which meant the killer wouldn't have had to have gotten right on top of Jack to Taser him, but stood a metre or two away."

"All the Tasers issued to the Station have been accounted for, but maybe we should have them all tested for recent use and traces of DNA, just to be sure," suggested Watson, since at least two of their suspects were fellow police officers with access to the Tasers.

"Excellent idea," Holmes said. "We should also check to see if there has been any word of stolen Tasers or of them being sold on the black market recently. I'd also like to know what made Jack stop in that particular spot in the first place."

Watson sorted through the photos until she came to the one she was after. "There was fresh oil and tyre tracks found on the side of the road near Jack's body, so what if our killer staged a car breakdown?"

"And being the community minded cop that he was, Jack stopped to help," Holmes concluded. "Makes sense and under those circumstances, Jack wasn't likely to be on guard, especially if he knew his killer."

"Or the killer could have waited behind the bushes nearby for Jack to arrive and surprised him," Watson said.

"Both are possibilities," Holmes agreed. "But if our killer did stage a car breakdown, then how did he or she know Jack would be driving along that road and when he would be?"

"If Jack had a regular routine when he was out on patrol, then it probably wouldn't be too hard for the killer to find that out and then wait for Jack to come along that way."

Holmes pushed the speaker button on the phone and dialled. "Hogan, did Jack have a regular routine or area he patrolled during his night shifts?"

"Not really, he usually went all over and around the town," Hogan replied. "Though he did like to spend the last hour or so of his patrol on some of the back roads before he returned to the station, because we've had a bit of trouble with drunk drivers sneaking back into town that way. Haven't busted many lately, because by now, most locals know he sits out there, so they avoid the area but we do still pick up the odd out-of-towner."

"Ok, thanks." She hung up on him.

"So our killer likely had a fair idea of when and where to find Jack," Watson said.

"Most people aren't in the habit of carting around scalpels, rope and Tasers with them, so our killer came prepared to commit the murder and if he or she planned that far ahead, our killer also could have studied Jack to find out the best time and place to strike."

Watson shivered at the thought of someone watching and waiting for the right moment. "There is another option for how Jack ended up there," Watson said. "What if it was a prearranged meeting between Jack and the killer?"

"In that case, we need to speak to Martha again, ask her if Jack was planning on meeting anyone while he was on duty and we should go through his mobile phone records, see who he was in contact with in the last couple of days, with particular attention to the hours leading up to his death. We also need to identify the car that left the oil and tracks," she said. "It may have been parked there earlier in the night and have nothing to do with the crime scene, but we still need to find that car, just in case it is connected."

Watson made a few more notes in her notebook, which was already nearly full with notes from the two investigations. There was still so much for them to follow up on, she thought as she glanced through the steadily growing list.

Holmes flipped over to another page in the report. "The rope used to bind Jack was just standard rope you can buy in any shop and there was nothing special about the knot."

"Damn," muttered Watson. Sometimes, a little thing like how a person tied a knot, could tell them whether the person worked in a specific job where rope was frequently used, like on a boat.

"Nothing else of note at the scene," Holmes concluded. "We still have the autopsy report to come in tomorrow, which might give us more to go on."

"Or nothing at all," Watson said.

Holmes looked over the desk at her partner, who was looking weary and despondent after another long day. "I know it feels like we aren't really getting anywhere, but we are making progress," she told Watson.

"It doesn't feel like it."

"You're just tired and you've had a big shock today with Jack's death," Holmes said. "So let's finish up for the day, go back to the hotel and start afresh tomorrow."

"I just hope there's not another murder tomorrow," Watson muttered as she got to her feet.

Holmes walked over to her and surprised her with a hug. "We'll get justice for Charlie and Jack," she promised Watson and kissed her on the lips. "Come on, let's get back to the hotel and I'll order room service and then we can soak together in that large bathtub in my room."

"That actually sounds pretty good right now," Watson said tiredly and she followed Holmes from the room.

* * *

Joey locked the door behind Sally and Pippa. Sally had offered to stay with her, but had reluctantly accepted Joey's stubborn refusal to change her mind about remaining alone in her house. Turning away from the door, she felt a sudden chill and almost opened the door to call them back. "Get a grip Joey," she told herself. Charlie was gone from her life forever, so she needed to get used to being alone from now on.

"Shit!" she screeched when she was startled by the phone suddenly blaring to life at her side. Taking a calming breath, she picked it up. "Hello?"

"You will pay, bitch," the harsh voice threatened, before being replaced by the dial tone.


	29. Chapter 29

Watson sipped her coffee as she walked along the beach. The early morning sun shone brightly upon her face and for the first time since she'd been back in the Bay, she felt somewhat relaxed. Perhaps it was just the fresh air and scent of the sea she was finally able to enjoy after feeling so cooped up in the Station pouring over evidence and files or maybe it was finally having a decent night's sleep. She smiled at the memories of the previous night. That soak in the tub had been just what she needed and Holmes had been more than attentive once they'd made it into the bedroom.

* * *

Joey felt the sand under her feet, the sun on her back and the breeze gently blowing across the sea, but none of it helped allay her fears. She was still unnerved by the phone call and she'd spent much of the night trying to work out who it was and had come up empty. The way the person had spoken, low and menacing, had helped to disguise the voice and so other than being fairly sure that the voice was male, she hadn't been able to recognise who it was. That it could be the murderer had unnerved her even more, to the point where she'd caved in and called Pippa back. Pippa had rushed straight over and spent the night, but she'd been upset this morning when Joey had told her that she didn't want her to stay over again. In the end, to appease her mother somewhat, she'd had to promise Pippa that she'd tell the police about the call or Pippa said she would. She knew Pippa was disappointed in her decision to be alone, but she was still so terrified that anyone who was around her would be in danger and she couldn't risk that.

Noticing the figure walking slowly from the opposite direction, it took a moment for Joey to recognise her and when she did, she stumbled and went face first into the sand.

* * *

Watson had been admiring the grace of the runner from a distance and rushed toward her when she saw her fall. As she neared, she realised who it was and hoped that anyone looking wouldn't mistake this encounter as harassment on her part. "Are you ok?" she asked when she reached Joey's side.

"I'm fine," Joey said and made sure she was on her feet before Watson had the chance to help her. There was just something about the young Detective that made her nervous and it had nothing to do with her being one of the cops investigating her for murder. "I just lost my footing in the sand," she said. Now was the perfect opportunity to mention the phone call, yet Joey couldn't find the words; she just wanted to put some distance between her and the Detective once more. "Thanks for checking on me though, but I have an appointment to get to, so I really need to finish my run," Joey said and set off at a fast pace before Watson could even say anything.

Watson frowned at her abrupt departure. Under the circumstances, she could understand why Joey would be nervous talking to her, but she couldn't help but think there was more to it. Shrugging, she put it from her mind and went back to her walk, hoping to make the most of it while she could.

* * *

_It's the eighth day since this nightmare started and two of our finest have met an untimely and extremely brutal end. Our town is living in fear, yet the police are seemingly no closer to finding the killer and making our town safe once more._

_Please, if anyone knows anything about these murders, call the police immediately._

_This is Belle Taylor, your voice of the Bay_

* * *

Charlie rolled over, trying to block out Belle's voice coming from the radio that was blaring through the wall. She still couldn't believe Jack was dead and when she first heard the news, her captor had been quick to dash any hope she might have had that Jack's death had also been faked. Jack and her didn't always see eye-to-eye, but he was a friend and colleague that she held in high regard and she could only imagine how Martha was coping with her loss. Her thoughts drifted to her own loss. She missed Joey desperately and hated waking alone, without her by her side and she was devastated at the thought Joey was not only grieving alone, but was also forced to deal with the unfounded accusations she was somehow responsible for her death. Pippa would be there for her, she was sure of that, but it wasn't the same and poor Ruby, she had no one and knowing her sister, she would probably shut herself off from others.

"I need to get out of here," she murmured into the dimly lit room. Only problem was, if everyone thought her dead, then no one would be coming for her and so her escape would be solely up to her. "Great, if that's the case, then I'm never getting out of here," she thought in a moment of helplessness, before she pushed that self-pity aside. She couldn't give up, she just needed to think this through and come up with a plan.

She had made mistakes in her life, especially when it came to relationships and who she slept with, but she believed she was a good person at heart and couldn't for the life of her, work out why she was being punished like this. At times, she thought she was being used just to punish Joey, yet considering her girlfriend was one of the nicest people you'd ever hope to meet, she couldn't understand anyone wanting to hurt her either and the longer she was here, the more she realised her captor and Jack's killer, had a bigger plan in play. If only she knew what it was, then she might be able to use it against her captor and get out of this hellhole.

What she had learnt so far, was that this person was dangerous and had already killed two people; Jack and some poor woman who had died in her place. She closed her eyes as she thought of the first victim. She felt some guilt that someone had been killed so callously and painfully just so this sicko could convince everyone else that she was dead, but she was desperately hoping that the woman's death wouldn't be in vain and that someone out there was looking for her and would soon lead to the discovery that there had been some sort of mix-up with identifying the body. That part confused her. Sid was a competent Medical Examiner, so how could he have gotten it so wrong?

She rolled over again. There was so much more to this, of that she was certain, but she might never know the answers, unless she got out of here.

* * *

Watson put her key into the car door and was just about to unlock it when she heard her name being called out. She stopped and turned to face Pippa.

"Det. Watson, I'd like to talk to you about Joey."

"Mrs Ross, unless it's a formal statement, it really wouldn't be appropriate to talk about the case."

"My daughter isn't a case."

"No, but she is a suspect in a case."

"Joey is just the sweetest girl," Pippa carried on regardless, "And you can't honestly believe that she'd be capable of such horror, especially against the woman she loved?"

"I'm sorry, but I can't discuss this with you Mrs Ross."

"I've looked after Joey since she was a little girl, she's like my flesh and blood and I hate seeing her going through this."

The woman was relentless, thought Watson. "Mrs Ross, I understand this is a difficult time for Joey and for you, but two people have been brutally murdered and it's my job to investigate their murders and to follow every lead in doing so."

"I just don't want Joey railroaded into taking the fall for something she didn't do, just because the cops couldn't be bothered doing their job properly," said Pippa.

"I assure you, that both Det. Holmes and myself will follow every lead, dot every I, cross every T and give 100% to this investigation until the right person is arrested and charged."

"My daughter is being set up and if you follow the evidence as it is at the moment, then my daughter is in trouble, so how is that fair?"

"Mrs Ross, no charges have been laid and all avenues are still being investigated."

"Then you believe Joey is being set up?"

Watson smiled wryly. "Mrs Ross, ever consider working on my father's mayoral campaign?"

"I'm sorry if I'm coming on a bit strong, but I'm just trying to protect my daughter."

"And I understand that, but you have to let me do my job."

"And you didn't answer my question," Pippa said. "Do you believe Joey is being set up?"

"As I said before, I can't comment on the investigation."

"Maybe you should work on your father's campaign, because your evasiveness is very much like his whenever he's asked a direct question he doesn't want to answer."

"I'll take that as a compliment." Watson sighed, "Look Mrs Ross, I know this isn't easy, but you really need to step back and let us do our job and trust that _if_," she empathised the last word, "Joey is innocent, then we will find the evidence to catch the right person."

"There is no if about it, because Joey is innocent," Pippa emphatically stated. She took a moment to study the young woman in front of her. "I don't know this Det. Holmes, but I feel like I do know you, Georgie," Pippa said and Watson winced internally; the woman was playing dirty using her first name and playing on their familiarity like that, but she did kind of admire her for it. "So I'm going to trust that you're not going to send an innocent person to jail just because you have to get a result." She smiled at Watson, "And hopefully one day, we can once more be less formal with each other, Georgie."

"You seem to be doing a pretty good job of that already," Watson replied wryly.

"I'm just a mother protecting her child and your father would do the same."

Watson nodded in agreement. Her father could be very protective of her at times.

Since she had the Detective's full attention, Pippa decided to go ahead and tell her about the phone call. "Joey received a threatening call last night."

"She didn't say anything about a phone call when I saw her earlier this morning," Watson said, though it might explain her skittishness, she supposed.

"You spoke to Joey?" Pippa said with a hint of censure in her voice.

"We ran into each other on the beach, just by chance and we didn't really talk about anything," Watson assured her. "What did the caller say?"

_"You will pay, bitch,"_ Pippa told her and shivered. Even now, she felt a cold sliver of fear at the words directed at her daughter. "And it wasn't just the words that scared Joey, it was the way he said it."

"He?" Watson said. "Then it was a man who called?"

"Joey thinks so, though she couldn't be absolutely certain because of the way the caller spoke." Pippa looked Watson in the eyes. "Is my daughter in danger from this person?"

"I honestly don't know," admitted Watson. "It could just be someone trying to scare her."

"Could you at least try to find out who called the house?"

"Of course." Watson took her notebook out. "What time was the call made?"

Pippa gave her all the details, which Watson duly jotted down. It was an interesting development, one she'd inform Holmes of as soon as she got to the Station.

"I'm worried about Joey, especially with her being all alone in that house while there is some sadistic killer on the loose," Pippa said. "I've tried talking her into moving in with Sally and me or at least letting one of us stay with her, but even after last night, she stubbornly refuses to change her mind."

"It's her choice," Watson said.

"It's the wrong choice," Pippa said and Watson silently agreed, though she suspected that if she was in a similar situation, she'd probably choose to be alone as well.

"Look, you can't force the issue onto her," Watson said, "All you can do is show her that you're there for her."

"I just feel so helpless."

"Investigations like this are hard on everyone involved."

"I just want it over with and my daughter safe and proven innocent," Pippa said quietly. It looked like Pippa was about to say something more, then changed her mind and gave a brusque, "Good day, Detective," before striding briskly away from the rather bemused Detective.

"What is it with women rushing away from me today?" she murmured. It might be something she would have to get used to in this town if she ended up arresting Joey and she wondered if her father would visit her in the city instead of splitting their time between the two places should she become persona non grata here.


	30. Chapter 30

"I thought a walk on the beach in the fresh air was supposed to be relaxing," Holmes bemusedly said when her partner walked into their office and flopped into one of the chairs with a heavy sigh.

"It did start off that way," replied Watson, "Until Mother Hen turned up."

"How is the old Mother Hen?"

"Reminding me she has teeth and will be only too happy to peck away at my carcass in order to protect her daughter," she said and filled her in on what Pippa had said.

Holmes chuckled. "First she practically slams the door in our faces and then she uses her mum wiles on the one detective she thinks she may have some sort of influence over." She chuckled again. "I like that woman's spunk."

"Easy for you to laugh, you're not the one who is going to have to come back here when this is all over."

"Look, the cops who work here every day find a way to do their job and still be part of the community, so you'll be fine."

"I've never really been part of the community though," Watson said. "My family might have come from here, but I'm basically just a visitor who has ties here." She shrugged her shoulders, "I'll never be a local."

"Considering how the locals are ending up, that could be a good thing."

"Good point," murmured Watson. "Speaking of locals, we might have one who has taken up making threatening phone calls."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, it seems that Joey received a threatening call last night."

"Details?"

"The caller said, 'You will pay, bitch', before hanging up. The person spoke in a way that made it hard for Joey to recognise the voice, but she thinks it was a male."

"What do you think he meant? Pay for what?" Holmes queried.

"I suppose the meaning could depend on who was calling," Watson said. "Someone who believes Joey is the killer and wants her to pay for Charlie's death or the real killer who wants Joey to pay in some way."

"The real killer?"

"I know the evidence points to Joey, but until we lay charges against her, I'm not going to overlook the possibility someone has set Joey up and may now be after her."

"I agree, we can't dismiss that possibility," Holmes said. "But I'm also not going to dismiss the possibility that Joey is guilty of Charlie's murder and also of Jack's, since we haven't cleared her of any involvement in his murder just yet."

"Well, once we get past Battleship and Mother Hen, we might be able to ask Joey some questions about Jack." Watson sat back in her chair and studied Holmes for a moment. "Susan, if you don't mind me saying, there are times that you seem pretty determined to see Joey guilty of Charlie's murder."

"I'm following the evidence."

"It feels like there's more to it."

"Experience," she stated. "In my early days in Homicide, I was pretty naïve and there were a couple of times when I nearly blew a case because I got totally conned by a suspect's tearful denials," she said. "They were so convincing and I honestly couldn't see them as killers and if not for my more experienced partner taking me aside and telling me to look past the tears, past the innocent faces and pleas of innocence and concentrate on the evidence, then I could very well have compromised those cases, so now, I look at the evidence and the motives and I base my opinions on that." She shrugged, "I may very well end up being wrong about my views on Joey, but until the evidence says otherwise, I'm going to continue to view her as the main suspect in Charlie's murder, yet at the same time, I'm not going to dismiss the other suspects either."

"Fair enough."

"You know what Watson," she said. "You remind me a little of who I was back then."

"Great, so I'm gullible and naïve," mumbled Watson.

"No, you're just not wanting to see the worst in people and that is a good quality to have," she told her, "But as we've discussed before, as a police officer, you need to be able to have a level of detachment and not let your emotions cloud or influence your reasoning in any way when you're investigating all possibilities."

"I guess I'm just having a hard time doing that," admitted Watson.

"Considering the circumstances of the case and your ties to the community, I'm actually not surprised you're having more trouble than usual, but that said, I did take that into account when I chose you to partner me on this and it's your connection to this place that still makes you the best person to be by my side on this investigation."

"As long as I don't let my emotions get the better of me and fuck up, right?"

"That goes for any investigation and partnership," replied Holmes, "But I have every confidence that you will continue to be a valuable contributor to this investigation."

"Thanks Susan."

"Now, back to the phone call," Holmes said. "Check Joey's phone records and see if the number can be traced back to the caller." She had a feeling it probably wouldn't lead anywhere, but there was always the chance that if it was some random local just trying to scare Joey, they might not have thought things through and called from their own phone. "It may very well just turn out to be someone who holds Joey responsible for Charlie's death, but as you said, we can't ignore the possibility it could be the killer."

"For what it's worth, Mrs Ross seemed genuinely worried about her daughter's safety," Watson said, "And regardless of whether the caller is the killer or someone looking to take the law into their own hands, it might be a good idea to have the uniforms do drive bys of her place during the nights."

Holmes considered it for a moment, then nodded. "It might not hurt to keep an eye on our other suspects in the same way either," she said and then smirked. "And if any of them or their lawyers makes a complaint about the Police presence, then we can tell them that it's for their own safety."

Watson finally noticed the open folder on the desk in front of Holmes. "Is that the autopsy report on Jack?"

"Yes and it does not make for pleasant reading." Holmes closed the file when Watson leaned over to get a closer look. "Which is why I don't think you need to read it just now."

"Susan, I went to the autopsy, so why shouldn't I read the report?"

"Because after what we saw and heard during the autopsy, there is no need for you to put yourself through more of it by reading the gory details," she said firmly. "Watson, you don't have anything to prove to me about your ability to do this job."

"Maybe it's to prove to myself that I can do this."

"All right then," Holmes said after thinking it over and she slid the file toward her. While Watson read it, Holmes summarised the relevant points. "It basically confirms what we already suspected from the initial autopsy. Jack died of massive blood loss, a scalpel was the choice of weapon used and it was definitely a syringe mark on Jack's neck, but we're still waiting on the blood analysis as to what drug was used on him."

"What about the drug audit?"

"Should be completed within the next two hours. You'll notice that Dr Walker also reached the same conclusion as we did in regards to the type of Taser used," Holmes said. "The marks are consistent with police issue type Tasers."

"Nothing has turned up on any stolen or black market Tasers just yet," Watson said. "And it will be another day or so before we get any results back on the Tasers from here that we sent in for analysis." She looked over the report in front of her. "Since it looks like our killer wore gloves when he was torturing Jack, that is going to reduce our chances of finding any epithelial DNA on the rope used to bind him."

"Best to cover all our bases though," Holmes said. "Now, there is something new and of interest in the report. During the initial autopsy, Dr Walker mentioned that the incisions were clean, with no hesitation marks, which suggested that they were inflicted by an experienced or at least, a very steady hand, but on closer examination of the wounds, he now believes that the cuts weren't made with the precision and evenness you'd expect from someone who used a scalpel a lot, so while our killer appears to have a steady hand and is confident at killing, she or he is somewhat unfamiliar with the choice of weapon."

In other words, as a nurse with access to scalpels but not a great deal of experience with using them, Joey was still in the mix of suspects, thought Watson, at least according to Holmes. The report was definitely difficult to read, as was trying to imagine that someone could be so cold and calculating as to drug someone, tie him up and then proceed to torture him, all without a hint of any hesitation. She shuddered when she came to the description about the removal of Jack's eyes. At least Dr Walker was able to confirm his eyes had been taken out post-mortem, but he was unsure on the instrument used, other than it was blunt and rounded, much like a spoon. Watson covered her mouth, feeling a little green. They still hadn't found Jack's eyes, which meant the killer most likely took them with him or her as some sort of sick trophy.

"Are you ok?" asked a concerned Holmes.

"Not really." Watson pushed the report away from her. "But then you did warn me about reading it."

"How about we get out of here and get some fresh air?"

"That didn't work so well for me this morning," Watson murmured with a wry smile. "But right now, anything would be better than being in here, only I want to put in that request for Joey's phone records first."

"You do that and I'll meet you out at the car," Holmes said. "And if you're lucky, I'll buy you a coffee while we wait for the audit on the drugs to be concluded and I may even stretch to buying you one of those disgusting cream buns you love so much."

"There's nothing disgusting about a cream bun, especially the ones made with mock cream," Watson called out as she started to write up the request for the phone records. With her mind on anything other than the autopsy report, she was starting to feel a bit better.

* * *

Joey hopped into the front seat of her sister's car after leaving Rachel Armstrong's office.

"You ok Joey?"

"I'm fine, Sally."

"Yeah, you really look it," Sally said sarcastically. Her sister had come back from her run that morning flustered and she had hoped a talk with her counsellor would have helped, but apparently it hadn't.

Joey sighed. "It's just that I still can't remember," she murmured.

Sally was still undecided on whether Joey remembering would be a good thing or not. She was 100% certain of her sister's innocence, but she'd hate for her sister to remember she had witnessed something that would then leave her traumatised and wishing she'd be able to forget it once more. Sally took her sister's hand and squeezed tight.

"I'm scared this is never going to end Sally."

"Of course it will end."

"Not if I end up in jail."

"That's not going to happen."

"You can't be sure of that, none of us can."

"I know things don't look great for you right now, but it's only going to be a matter of time before the cops figure out that the person who killed Jack, was the same person who killed Charlie and since there's no way they can pin Jack's murder on you, they'll have to change their mind about you with Charlie's."

"They told Pippa she wasn't an alibi for me when Jack was killed, so they obviously suspect me."

"From what I've heard around town, Angelo was having an affair with Martha and had had words with Charlie in the past, so if anyone is going to end up looking like a better suspect with a hell of a lot more motive than you, it's going to be him and I'm sure even the cops will soon realise that and turn their focus away from you."

"Except the evidence points to me killing Charlie."

"Who better to set someone up, than a cop?" Sally said. "And don't doubt for one second that is exactly what Morag will be arguing if the cops keep hassling you."

"They're not really hassling me," Joey said, "They're just doing their jobs." It was something she had said over and over lately and she wasn't sure why.

"Well, they'd just better be careful how they do their job, because none of us will put up with any hint of them shafting you over this."

Joey smiled at her. "It's great to have you back and on my side, Sally."

"We're family and we stick together through everything," she replied. "Which is why I'm still pissed that you won't let us move into the house with you."

"Sally, can we please not go through this again?"

"For the moment," conceded Sally. "Do you need to go anywhere or straight home?"

"Straight home for the moment, I think." She was in no mood for much else right now.


End file.
